CATHOLIC D C T E I X E . 



1 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, 



PROV 

FROM 

SCMPTUEE AND TMDHION. 

BY 

REV. P. RAFFERTY. 




Yigilate. state in fide. 

Watch ye ; stand fast in the faith. — 1 Cor. xvi. 13. 
Without faith it is impossible to please God.— Heb. xi. 6. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
PUBLISHED BY HENRY McGEATH, 
No. 1 South Eighth Street. 

1849, 




^HE I^IBRARY 

OF Congress 

WASHINGTON 



Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1849, by 

Eev. p. RAFFEETY, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United 
States, in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



King & Baird, Printers, No. 9 George street. 



CONTENTS. 



i 



CHAPTEPw 


PAGE 


T 

X. 


XIU vV XU Jj 11111 XlltJ XI ut; V^llUlOll Ui 






V^llllobj _ _ _ - - 


Q 


TT 
XJ.. 


xiie i\ ature oi xieresy anu. lociiibiii, 




III. 


Unity of the Church, - - - 




lY. 


Communion with See of Peter the 






Centre of Unity, - 


38 


V. 


Change of Religion in England was 
made without the free consent of 






the Clergy, - 


49 


YI. 


Of InfallibiHty, ^ = = ^ 


65 


YII. 


Arguments against the Protestant 
rul of Faith and judge of contro- 






versies, - - - , - 


72 


YIII. 


Apostolical Traditions, - ~ -= 


85 


IX. 


Apostolical Succession, 


92 


X. 


Catholic rule of Faith and judge of 






controversies, - 


107 


XI. 


Salvation only in the Catholic Church, 


116 


XII. 


Holy Orders, - . - - 
B 


138 



vi CON'TENTS. 

XIII. The Single Life of Priests, - - 144 

XIY. Of the Sacrifice of the Mass, - 150 

XV. Transubstantiation, - - - 153 

XYI. Communion in one kind, - - 163 

XYII. Purgatory, 169 

XVIII. Penance, ----- 178 

XIX. Holy Water, 188 

XX. Confirmation, - - - - 194 

XXI. Baptism, ----- 197 

XXII. Matrimony, - - - - 199 

XXIII. Extreme Unction, - - - - 200 

XXIV. Worship and] Invocation of Angels 

and Saints, - - - - 201 

XXV. Of Images, 210 

XXVI. Of the Relics of Saints and Pilgrim- 

ages to Holy places, - - 215 

XXVII. Good Works, = - - - 221 



PREFACE. 



There are in the gospels the fullest and 
plainest promises of a perpetual infallibility 
made by Christ to his Church, as will appear 
from the following text, ^^Upon this rock I 
will build my church, and the gates of hell 
shall not prevail against it," Matt. xvi. 18. 
" I will ask my Father, and he will send you 
another comforter to abide with you for ever," 
John xiv. 16. The Comforter, which is the 
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in ray 
name, he shall teach you all things, and bring 
all things into your remembrance, whatsoever 
I have said unto you," John xiv. "I have 
yet many things to say unto you : but you 
cannot bear them now. However, when the 
spirit of Truth is come, he will teach you all 



vin 



PREFACE. 



truth," John xvi. 13. ^^Lo, I am with you 
always even unto the end of the world," 
Matt, xxviii. 20. All which is confirmed by 
St. Paul, calling the church of Christ, The 
pillar and ground of truth," 1 Tim. iii. 15. 
The motive, which sufficed to fix so great and 
learned a man as St. Augustin in the religion 
he had chosen, is surely no weak one, and 
may suffice to direct any man, whether learned 
or unlearned, in the choice he has to make. 
Let us then hear his own words. Lastly, 
(says he) the very name of Catholic holds 
me, of which this church alone has not, with- 
out reason, so kept the possession, that though 
all heretics desire to he called Catholics, yet 
if a stranger asks them where Catholics meet, 
no heretic dare to point out his own house or 
church." But what church is it in which St. 
Augustin was held steadfast by the very name 
of Catholics? His words immediately pre- 
ceding are a full answer to this question. 
" Thirdly, (says he) a succession of bishops 



PREFACE. 



ix 



descending from the See of St. Peter, to whom 
Christ after his resurrection committed his 
flockj holds me in the church," Contra Epist. 
Fund. c. iv. It is plain then it was the church 
in communion with the See of Rome, St. 
Augustin had chosen for his guide. It was 
in this church he was held by the very name 
of Catholic, because she had always had, and 
has had ever since so full and undisputed a 
possession of this honourable title, that no 
communion separated from her was ever able 
either to gain it to itself or dispossess her of it. 

But what means the word Catholic ? It is 
a Greek word, and signifies the same as uni- 
versal. And this is so essential a condition of 
the church, that no society upon earth can 
pretend to be a part of it, unless it be in the 
communion of that church, which has uni- 
versality both of time and place. Of time, by 
being the standing church of all ages since the 
time of the apostles ; and of place, by having 
on its side the agreement of people and na- 



X 



PREFACE, 



tions, according to St. Augustin's expression. 
Both which parts of the church's universality 
are clearly marked out in the word of God. 
Her universality of time marked out by Christ 
promising his apostles «^ that the gates of hell 
shall not prevail against," Matt. xvi. 18. And 
"that he will be with them always even unto 
the end of the world, xxviii. 20. And by 
Isaias, in these prophetic words : «t This is my 
covenant with them, saith the Lord ; my Spirit 
that is upon thee, and my words which I have 
put into thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy 
mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor 
out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the 
Lord, from henceforth and forever," Isaiah 
lix. 21. 

Her universality of place, marked out first 
by God's promise to Abraham, that all na- 
tions of the earth should be blessed in his 
seed," Gen. xxii. 18. 2dly, by the Psalmist, 
" Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen 
for thy inheritance, and the uttermost parts of 



PREFACE. 



xi 



the earth for thy possession. Psalm ii. 8. 
And again, "Praise the Lord all ye nations, 
praise him all ye people," Psalm cxvi. 1. 3dly, 
by Isaias describing the future glory of the 
church of Christ in the multitude of people 
and nations flocking to her," Isaiah Ix. And 
lastly, by Christ himself giving a commission 
to the apostles and their successors to '^go 
and teach all nations," Matt, xxviii. 19. 

As to the church in communion with the 
See of Rome, she has not only had an unin- 
terrupted visible being from the time of the 
apostles to this day, but has always been the 
most illustrious society of Christians upon 
earth. She has therefore the universality of 
time promised by Christ, and foretold by 
Isaias. She has likewise preached the gospel 
to the most remote nations in the world, who 
have all received the faith of Christ from her 
bishops and pastors. 

There can be no true church but what has 
its origin from Christ and his apostles. And 



XII 



PREFACE. 



this is likewise a truth, which cannot be con- 
tested. Now it is a plain historical fact, that 
the reformation began in 1517 ; and that there 
were none of the pretended reformed churches 
in the world before that time ; because there 
could be no reformed churches before the 
reformation, which gave them their birth. I 
trust the following pages w^ill, if read with 
proper dispositions, be sufficient to satisfy any- 
reasonable mind that the Roman Catholic 
Church is, and ever will be, the only true 
church of Christ the pillar and ground of 
truth^ 



CHAPTER L 



HOW TO FIND THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 

The first rule is that of Tertullian, (de 
Praescript, c. 22.) <^ Quod apud inultos unum 
invenitur, non est erratum, sed traditum. That 
which amongst many is found one, is no error, 
but handed down. In other words, tradition, 
time out of mind. And let any one dare, 
says he, afSrm that they were in an error who 
begun this tradition." 

The second rule for finding out apostolical 
traditions, is given by St. Augustin, (L. 2, 
Bapt. c. 7 ; L. 4, c. 23, and L. 5, c. 23,) 
which is this : Whatever is found to have 
been held by the universal church over the 
whole world, and not to have had its begin- 
ning from any ordinance of bishops or coun« 
cils, but to have been prior to any such ordi« 
nance, that is to be esteemed a tradition of 
those by whom the church was first established, 
that is, of the apostles of Christ." By this 
2 



10 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



rule this great doctor of the church proves 
against the Donatists, that baptism given by 
heretics ought not to be reiterated, because 
of the ancient custom of the church, which 
received their baptism ; and by this very same 
rule. Catholics, with the highest degree of 
evidence, and the utmost force, maintain the 
doctrines and practices of the church, which 
modern sects have protested against, to be in- 
deed apostolical traditions, by reason of the 
long possession they have obtained through- 
out all Christendom. A possession have not 
acquired any ordinances of councils, but have 
had before any such ordinances, and which 
they quietly enjoyed, long before it was con- 
tradicted by any man, which was certainly the 
case of sacrifice of mass, of prayers for the 
dead, of the invocation of saints, &c. These 
are all certainly apostolical traditions. Now 
the apostles delivered nothing but true doc- 
trines, to be handed down from age to age. 

The third rule is that of St. Irenae, in his 
third book against heresies, chap. iv. And of 
Tertullian, in his book of prescriptions, chap, 
xxxii. and xxxvii. viz : That to discern what 
traditions are apostolical, and what not, we 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



11 



must have recourse to the churches founded 
by the apostles, and learn from them what the 
apostles taught. For as by their testimony 
we know what scriptures are apostolical, and 
W'hat not, so by their testimony we are to 
know what traditions are to be esteemed apos- 
tolical, which have been delivered as such by 
the churches founded by the apostles, amongst 
which the greatest and most ancient, accord- 
ing to Irenseus in the same place, is that of 
Rome, founded by the two most glorious 
apostles, Peter and Paul ; to which church, by 
reason of its more powerful principality, '^all 
must have recourse, and in which the aposto- 
lical tradition has always been preserved by 
those that are in everyplace." ^^A happy 
church," says Tertullian, chap, xxxvi., " its 
condition to which the apostles bequeathed 
their whole doctrine with their blood." This 
rule is certainly w^ell-grounded ; because, as 
our Lord by himself, and by his holy Spirit, 
certainly taught his apostles all truth, so his 
apostles, by his commission, certainly deliver- 
ed all that he taught to the churches which 
they founded. So that these are certainly the 
best qualified to be witnesses of what the 



12 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



apostles taughtj which are the things we call 
apostolical traditions. By the application of 
this rule to our modern controversies, the first 
religion must certainly gain her cause against 
all sects ; because, notorious to all the world, 
that when the present differences in religion 
first began, all apostolical churches, with one 
accord, received, held, and maintained those 
doctrines and practices for apostolical tradi- 
tions, which are now rejected and impugned 
by the pretenders to reformation. 

Against these rules our adversaries object, 
that all the churches founded by the apostles, 
and in a word, all Christendom, quickly for- 
sook or corrupted the doctrine of the apos- 
tles, and went astray into error, superstition, 
and idolatry ; and therefore there was a neces- 
sity for their reformation, which, if we will 
believe them, was nothing else but bringing 
back again the primitive doctrines which had 
possession of the church before she was cor- 
rupted with popery. 

This impious pretence, upon which the 
whole reformation is grounded, is demonstra- 
tively confuted by all those texts of scripture 
which assure us that the church founded by 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



13 



Christ should never be corrupted by damna- 
ble errors. It is also infinitely injurious to 
Christ, giving Satan so early a victory over 
his kingdom. Yet the reformers pretend that 
the whole church of God of the New Testa- 
ment, Laity and clergy, learned and un- 
learned, all ages, sects, and degrees of men, 
Avomen and children of whole Christendom, 
were at once drowned in abominable idolatry, 
of all other vices the most detested by God 
and damnable to man, and that for the space 
of eight hundred years and more." Horn, of 
peril of idolatry, part iii. 

But for the more fully confuting this ground- 
less system, w'hich pretends that the primitive 
Christians w^ere Protestants, till their succes- 
sors introduced popery ; and to demonstrate 
the perpetual succession of the Catholic doe- 
trine from the apostles, I shall borrow the 
words of a modern writer upon this subject, 
which seem to me to put the matter out of 
dispute. ^« If the faithful in the first centuries 
were Protestants, when and how did their 
posterity become papists.^ (for papists they 
certainly were, when Luther undertook to re- 
form the church's doctrine, anno 1517, and 
2* 



14 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



had been so for many hundred years.) In 
what year of our Lord did this popery first 
creep into the church ? Who was the first au- 
thor of it ? In what place was it first broach- 
ed ? What opposition did it meet with at its 
first appearance from the zeal of the pastors of 
the church ? What disturbances did it cause ? 
What books were written on this occasion, 
what councils held? &c. Or was this the only 
change in religion, the only heresy, which 
crept into the world without author, without 
date, without disturbance, without resistance ; 
so that the whole world, by a strange revolu- 
tion, from Protestant became papist, though 
no one knows how, nor when ? 

We can trace up protestancy to the very 
year in which it was first broached, viz. 1517, 
we can name the day when their first preacher 
laid the foundations of their religions, (by his 
first sermon at Wittemburg against indulg- 
ences,) at which time w^e could have said to 
them with truth, your profession had no being 
yesterday. We can tell the author, the place, 
the first and chief abettors of their doctrine ; 
the disturbances it caused ; the resistance 
which it met with ; the books written on both 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



15 



sides, &c. We can do the same with regard 
to Arianism, and all other heresies or innova- 
tions in religion. Let them name the pope or 
bishop of Rome for these 1847 years that 
brought into the church a religion different 
from that in which his immediate predecessor 
both lived and died. Which, as they cer- 
tainly cannot do, is a plain demonstration the 
faith of the church was never changed. 

" I would here ask of these gentlemen, who 
would persuade us that Protestancy was the 
religion of the first ages, and that there was a 
time when the whole church w^as Protestant, 
whether these ancient Protestants, at the first 
appearance of popery, all unanimously agreed 
to embrace it ; or whether a great part of them 
stuck out, and remained steady to their ancient 
faith ? If a great part of them stuck out, and con- 
tinued steady to the Protestant religion, what 
disputes did diversity of sentiments produce? 
What books were written for and against, as 
always happens on such occasions ? If all at 
once w^re bewitched into an unanimous agree- 
ment in popery." 

I know our adversaries w^ill say that popery, 
as they call it, was not all brought into the 



16 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



church at one time, but by degrees; that 
prayers for the dead were introduced in one 
century ; invocation of saints in another, and 
so of the rest. 

But this reply does not at all lessen the 
force of our argument ; as may be easily made 
appear in the aforesaid instances of prayers 
for the dead, and invocation of saints. Prayers 
for the dead are laid aside in all the reformed 
churches, as vain and superstitious ; though 
they cannot but acknowledge, that they were 
maintained and practised by the universal 
church. And Arius, as we learn from St. 
Epiphanius, Haer. 75, and St. Augustine, Her. 
27, was iu the fourth century ranked amongst 
the heretics, for presuming to say, that the 
prayers and alms of the living did the dead 
no good. Now, if there ever was a time when 
the primitive Christians w^ere Protestants in 
this particular, so as to be convinced that 
prayers for the dead were vain and supersti- 
tious ; if this, I say, was the notion of the 
Ci ristians of the first and second century, how 
was it possible that their immediate succes- 
sors in the third century, should so unani- 
mously embrace this practice ; should reckon 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



17 



it amongst their most ancient traditions ? 
(Tertulliande corona militis, c. 3.) And the 
first man that offered to oppose it in the follow- 
ing age, should upon that account be con- 
demned as an heretic ; especially since our 
adversaries must acknowledge, that in the 
third and fourth century the church was well 
stocked with prelates, both learned and zealous 
against all novelties, that would never have 
sat still and tamely suffered the faith to be 
corrupted by any man." 4 

In like manner as to the invocation of saints, 
which many Protestants accuse of downright 
idolatry ; it is confessed by their best divines 
to have been the doctrine and practice of the 
fathers, at least in the fourth century and 
downwards. It is confessed, says Mr. Thorn- 
dike, in Epil. P. 3, p. 358, that the lights 
both of the Greek and Latin church, St. 
Basil, St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Gregory 
Nyssene, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, St. Augus- 
tin, St. Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, 
St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Theodoret, St. 
Fulgentius, St. Gregory the Great, St. Leo, 
and all after that time, have held the invoca- 
tion of saints, and desired their assistance. 



18 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



Now if there ever was a time, in which the 
primitive Christians were protestant as to this 
article, and in which they believed as Protes- 
tants now^ do, that the invocation of saints was 
superstition and idolatry, how was it possible, 
that all on a sudden, the whole current of the 
fathers in those times of learning, zeal, and 
piety, should all run into this practice without 
resistance from any one, but such as were 
condemned heretics, Eunomeus, Vigilantius 
and Faustus ? Certainly these great lights of 
antiquity were better qualified to know what 
was the doctrine of their immediate predeces- 
sors, than modern Protestants at the distance 
of more than fourteen hundred years can pre- 
tend to be ; and it is not less certain, that they 
were not capable of taking up any practice, if 
they had known that their forefathers abhorred 
it as superstition and idolatry. The like may 
be said with regard to all the other points of 
modern controversy, in which the adversaries 
of the church charge her with having altered 
and corrupted the ancient faith. And indeed 
a person must be a stranger to church history, 
(in which we see by so many instances, how 
tenacious the generality of Christians have 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



19 



been in every age, of the faith in which they 
were brought up ; and what disturbances have 
been caused, as often as the least point of the 
church's doctrine has been called in question,) 
that can imagine that all or any one of the 
articles of the primitive faith could ever be 
altered, without great opposition and disturb- 
ance ; much less so insensibly, as that nobody 
should be able to tell how, when, or by whom 
the alteration was made. 



20 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE NATURE OF HERESY AND SCHISM. 

Heresy, according to the Catholics, is an 
obstinate adhesion to any error contrary to 
divine revelation, duly proposed to our belief 
by the Church of God ; that is, contrary to 
what God has taught, and the church holds to 
be a revealed and apostolical truth; or, a 
wilful separation from the doctrine of the 
Catholic church in matters of faith. According 
to Protestants, «nt is an obstinate defence of 
error against a necessary or fundamental article 
of Christian faith." But the ancient church 
knew nothing of this distinction; and there- 
fore condemned all heretics that dissented 
from doctrine, whether the articles in which 
they dissented were of the number of those, 
which these gentlemen called fundamental or 
not. And certainly an obstinate defence of 
error against any article which God has 
taught," must needs be a damnable sin; and 
what sin is it, if not heresy ? and who shall 
be judge in these cases, what articles of 
Christian faith are necessary to be believed, if 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



21 



not the church of God, which proposes them 
to our belief? 

Schism, according to CatholicSj is a wil- 
ful separation from the unity and communion 
of the church, and the subordination due to 
the church governors." According to Protes- 
tants, it is a causeless separation of one part 
of the church from another." But W'ho shall 
be judge whether the separation be causeless, 
or not ? Or can there be a just cause for a 
separation from the Catholic church, with 
which Christ has promised to abide for ever ? 
St. Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. 

Now the children of the primitive religion 
are very secure, that in adhering to their 
church guides, they are neither guilty of heresy 
nor schism. They cannot be guilty of heresy, 
because they hold nothing contrary to the 
definitions of the church, or to the word of 
God, as interpreted by the greatest authority 
upon earth, viz. that of the church of God. 
Much less can they be guilty of heresy, accord- 
ing to the Protestant notion of heresy, viz. of 
error in fundamentals ; since our very adver- 
saries are obliged to acknowdedge, that our 
church does not err in fundamentals. 
3 



22 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, 



Besides, heresy, according to the scriptures, 
is a damnable crime, Gal. v. 20, 21 ; Titus, 
iii. 10, 11; 2 St. Pet. ii. 1, 2; St. Jude, 
13. The malignity of which consists in 
wilfully refusing to believe that which God 
has taught, after it has been duly proposed to 
our belief, by such an authority, and upon 
such grounds, or motives of credibility, that 
it would be highly imprudent to doubt that 
God has taught it ; in which case the refusing 
to believe, is highly injurious to God, by call- 
ing in question his truth. Now Catholics are 
very sure they are guilty of no such crime as 
this ; because they refuse to believe no one 
revealed truth, which by sufficient authority 
and upon due grounds is proposed to their 
belief; and in all those things in which they 
believe differently from other Christians, they 
have on their side the greatest authority upon 
earth, and the strongest motives of all others 
to convince them that what they believe is the 
same as God has taught. 

Moreover, the root of all heresy is pride and 
conceit of man's own judgment, which he 
prefers to all other authority ; for an humble 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



23 



man can never be a heretic. Therefore the 
followers of the old religion, who w^alk in the 
humble way of submission to the church 
authority, and take up nothing of their own 
invention, or upon any presumption of their 
own judgment, follow^ their guides of divine 
appointment, can never be guilty of the sin of 
heresy. Again : — The chief points of the doc- 
trine of the Cathohc religion, which are 
accused by our adversaries as grievous and 
pernicious errors, were certainly held long 
before the pretended reformation, by the 
whole eastern as well as western church ; and 
consequently the holding of them could be no 
heresy at that time, when they were held by 
the universal church, which (as Protestant 
divines allow) never falls into heresy. Now 
if the holding of these articles w^as not heresy 
then, I would gladly know what can make it 
heresy at present? Not the word of God, 
which w^as the same then as it is now. Nor 
any new declaration of the w^ord of God, or 
definition of the church or council ; because 
the most authentic, and most universal that 
has been since, has been on the side of the 
Catholic. 



24 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



And as we are secure against heresy by 
following the old religion, so are w^e also 
against the guilt of schism. Because w^e never 
broke off from the communion of any more 
ancient or superior church, or w^ithdrew our 
obedience from any church governors, keeping 
within the bounds of a due subordination to 
our superiors. Now as rebellion in the state, so 
schism in the church, can only be when a 
lesser, or at least an inferior part, separates 
from the greater or superior ; w^hich, I have 
said, was never our case, who never w^ent out 
from any greater or superior church ; but in all 
divisions of religion, that ever yet have been, 
we have always had at the time of the begin- 
ning of such division, both a majority of num- 
ber, and a pre-eminence of dignity and autho- 
rity with respect of number, and pre-eminence 
of dignity and authority with respect to those 
that have been divided from us. We are the 
great body of christians descending from the 
apostles, from which all other sects at their 
first beginning separated themselves; and 
whose authority they all acknowledged before 
the separation. Therefore we cannot possibly 
be schismatics. 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



25 



If it be objected that the guilt of schism 
lies at our door, for giving cause to it, by in- 
sisting upon terms of communion which could 
not in conscience be complied with, and 
casting out of our communion all those that 
refused to concur with our innovations : we 
answer, first. That it has ahvays been the 
method of all schismatics to charge the church 
with giving cause to the schism. 2dly, That 
the pretence of conscience against church 
authority is also the cloak, by which all here- 
tics and schismatics have sought to cover 
their obstinacy and pride : and that it has also 
been the way of all innovators to accuse the 
church of innovations. 3dly, That the church 
governors have been authorized by Christ to 
be judges in these cases, (St. Matt. v. 17,) and 
to cast out of the communion of the church such 
as obstinately refuse to hear and obey them. 
4thly, That even supposing the case of an unjust 
excommunication, the person excommunicated 
is not thereby authorized to set up altar against 
altar ; nor does the excommunicator thereby 
forfeit all authority, or become a schismatic. 
5thly, That the person excommunicated, is not 
a competent judge of the justice or injustice 
3* 



26 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



of the sentence of his superiors. Gthly, That 
in the case of modern sectaries, they did not 
stay till they were cast out of the church, but 
run out of it of their own accord, and enticed 
as many as they could to come out after them. 
In fine, that at the time when the division 
began, we only continued where we were, in 
the terms of communion which had been fixed 
long before ; therefore they broke off from us, 
not we from them : as the ship breaks loose 
from the shore, not the shore from the ship ; 
because the shore continues just where it was. 
From all which it is visible, that the schism 
is not on our side. 

Besides, the professors of the Catholic re- 
ligion wear none of the badges whereby scrip- 
ture and antiquity will have us know and 
distinguish heretics and schismatics. Such as 

preaching w^ithout being sent, Jerem. xxiii. 
21 ; Rom. x. 15 ; Heb. v. 4. Not entering 
into the sheepfold by the door, but climb- 
ing up another way, St. John, x. 1. Going 
out of the established church, and the com- 
munion of the undoubted successors of the 
apostles, 1 St. John, ii. 19. Separating them- 
selves, St. Jude, 19, causing divisions and 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



27 



offences contrary to the doctrine which the 
children of the church have learnt, Rom. xvi. 
17. Preaching to them a new gospel, Gal. 
i. 8, 9. Wolves in sheep's clothing, but easily 
known by their evil fruits, St. Matt. vii. 
15, 16. Perpetually chopping and changing, 
and varying from their own rules, Tertullian 
de PrjBscript. chap. xlii. Rising long after the 
church from which they separated themselves, 
TertulHan, ibid. chap. xxxi. Where he gives 
us this rule to distinguish heretics by, as a 
sentence that shall stand for the condemnation 
of all future heresies. «'Id esse dominicum 
et verum, quod est prius traditum ; id autem 
extraneum et falsum quod est posterius im- 
missum." That is of the Lord, and is true, 
which was of elder date ; but that is foreign 
and false which came in later. 

Now as it is evident that none of these 
marks of error and schism agree to the Catholic 
religion and its professors, so it is visible that 
they have all been found in every one of the 
modern sects: who all from their very first 
setting out, preached without any mission, 
either ordinary from the Church, or extraor- 
dinary from God ; and consequently did not 



28 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



enter into the sheepfold by the door ; they all 
went out and separated themselves from the 
ordinary succession of the Church ; caused 
divisions and offences, preached a new gos- 
pel;" fell out immediately amongst them- 
selves ; and have ever since been daily vary- 
ing in their doctrine, and uncertain what they 
would be at : in fine, have all from the very 
beginning brought forth such fruits, as could 
never spring from a good tree. 

But setting all this aside, it is easy to prove 
the guilt of schism upon them all, from this 
plain matter of fact. At the time of their first 
origin, when they separated themselves from 
the Roman Catholic church, they did not em- 
brace the communion of any other church 
then in being ; but stood all alone upon their 
own bottom, divided from all churches upon 
earth, which was confessedly Luther's case, 
about the year 1517. Therefore if at that time 
there any where was a true church of Christ 
upon earth, (as there always is, if the scripture 
and creed be true,) the first authors of all these 
sects originally separated themselves from the 
true church of Christ, wheresoever or whichso- 
ever she was; because they separated them 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



29 



pelves from all churches, pure or impure, which 
had any being upon earth before their time, and 
consequently they were all guilty of schism. 

Neither is it much harder to prove the guilt 
of heresy upon them all. Because, from their 
very first setting out they all obstinately main- 
tained sundry doctrines condemned by the 
universal Church, as heretical and contrary to 
divine revelation, many ages before. Now 
that which is once heresy, is always heresy ; 
as that which is once truth, is always truth. 

Nor is there indeed any rule by which the 
ancient or modern Arians, for example, can 
be proved to be heretics, but what will prove 
the same with regard to the sectaries of these 
days ; both the one and the other were and 
are wulUng to be judged by the Scriptures as 
interpreted by themselves : both the one and 
the other have been condemned by the' Scrip- 
tures as interpreted by the church. Therefore 
either both are heretics or neither. 



30 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



CHAPTER III. 

UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 

That the true church of Christ is always 
one, and can be but one in her faith and com- 
munion, appears from many texts of Scripture. 
Song of Solomon, vi. 9, 10. "My dove, my 
undefiled is but one — fair as the moon, clear 
as the sun, terrible as an army with banners." 
St. John X. 16. " Other sheep I have, which 
are not of this fold, (viz. the Gentiles, who 
were then divided from the Jews,) them also 
I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, 
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." 
Ephes. iv. 4, 5. There is one body, and 
one spirit, as you are called in one hope of 
your calling; one Lord, one faith, one bap- 
tism." Rom. xii. 5. We being many are 
one body in Christ, and every one mem- 
bers one of another." St. John xvii. 20, 
21. Neither pray I for these ajone (the 
apostles), but for them also that shall believe 
in me through the word, that they all may be 
one." Nor could the church or kingdom of 
Christ, long subsist without this unity. " For 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, 



31 



every kingdom divided against itself is brought 
to desolation, and every city or house divided 
against itself shall not stand." St. Malt. xii. 
25. 

Hence, where this unity is wanting, it is a 
certain mark that the true church of Christ is 
not there. And consequently that scheme of 
Protestants must fall to the ground, which 
maintains, that the church of Christ is not in 
one only communion ; but is a collection of 
many disagreeing sects divided from each 
other in faith and communion : for here is no 
unity, and consequently, this cannot be the 
true system of the church of Christ, which, 
according to the Scripture and creed, is ever 
one. 

For the same reason the reformation in 
general, or the reformed church taken in that 
latitude as to comprise the whole collection 
of Protestant sects, cannot be the true church 
of Christ ; because it wants this mark or pro- 
pert^ of unity. Luther to his dying day looked 
upon the Zuinglians, and all that denied the 
real presence, as heretics and aUens from the 
church of God. (See his lesser confession, 
and his theses against the Lovanists, t. 7, fol. 



32 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



503, 2.) His followers have inherited the 
same notions to this day, with regard to Cal- 
vinists. The Church of England Protestants 
look upon the dissenters as schismatics ; and 
the dissenters avoid the communion of the 
established church, as not sufficiently purged 
from superstition and idolatry. Can this be 
the one fold of Christ ? or can his sheep run 
so many opposite ways ? 

Nay, so far are Protestants in general from 
this unity, which is one of the marks of the 
church of Christ, that there are scarce the 
least footsteps of it to be found in any one 
sect or denomination of them : for, pick out 
which you please of these sects, and examine 
into their whole system of faith, and you will 
find no agreement either with one another, or 
with the first authors of their sect. In so 
much that, if you go to consult any two minis- 
ters, experience teaches they do not both 
agree throughout in their notions of religion ; 
and neither the one, nor the other with the 
first reformers, whose systems they have all 
forsaken ; nor are their disagreements in mat- 
ters of small moment, but of the highest im- 
portance : some in every sect are Arians with 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



33 



relation to the Trinity; many are Latitudina- 
rians ; great also are their differences with 
relation to " Church government, church au- 
thority, the necessity and nature of the sac- 
raments, the presence of the body and blood 
of Christ in the Lord's Supper ; free will ; 
predestination ; and the state of souls departed ; 
the necessity of faith in Christ for salvation ; 
lay baptism, &c." The last of w^hich contro- 
versies, as it is decided by most of the divines 
of the English Protestant church, unchristians, 
and consequently unchurches, not only all 
Dissenters, but also all the Lutherans and 
Calvinists, who having no bishops, conse- 
quently, in the system of these divines, have 
no other ministers than mere laymen. 

Nor is there any way left amongst Protest- 
ants, for their church to put an end, by her 
authority, to these contests of her children ; 
since they can never be persuaded that they 
are obliged to pay any greater deference to 
her decisions, than their forefathers, the first 
reformers, were to the decisions of the whole 
church then in being. 

But how is it then with the Catholic Church, 
W'ith regard to this unity, which is one of the 
4 



34 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



properties of the true church of Christ ? Why 
she is one, by the union of all her children in 
one faith, and one uniform profession of faith, 
unalterable and inviolable, viz., that published 
by Pius IV., in maintaining every article 
whereof, all Catholics throughout the world 
unanimously agree. She is one by the union 
of all her children in one communion. And 
for the maintaining this one faith and commu- 
nion, she has one visible head, and is guided 
by one church authority, to which all her 
children are bound to assent ; and by which 
all disturbers of unity, and innovators of faith, 
are cut off from her unity. 

So that the followers of the Catholic Church, 
in point of unity, have clearly many advan- 
tages above Protestants. 1st, because all 
Catholics agree in one confession or profes- 
sion of faith : Protestant churches could never 
yet agree in any one such confession. 2dly, 
because all Catholics, however spread through- 
out the world, are in one and the same com- 
munion : Protestants are divided into many 
separate sects, which refuse to communicate 
one with another. 3dly, because all Catholics 
have one visible head of the church, one 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



35 



apostolic see, the centre of unity, to which all 
are subject, and in which all are united. Pro- 
testants, as the learned Sir Edward Sands long 
ago complained, (Relations of the Religions 
of the West,) are as severed, or other scat- 
tered troops, each drawing different ways, 
without any means to pacify their quarrels ; no 
patriarch, one or more, to have a common su- 
perintendence or care of their churches, for 
correspondence and unity : no ordinary way to 
assemble a general council of their part, &c." 
4thly, because Catholics embrace a rule of 
faith which must maintain them in unity, viz., 
the Word of God, as interpreted to them by 
the Church, to whose authority they all hold 
themselves bound to submit: so that if any 
dispute arise, when once the Church has in- 
terposed her judgment, whosoever presumes 
to dissent, is no longer looked upon by Ca- 
tholics as one of their society, but as a heretic 
and a schismatic. Protestants, on the other 
side, maintain a rule of faith, which, human 
weakness considered, is utterly inconsistent 
with unity in religion, and cannot but be a 
perpetual source of endless divisions. Such 
is the Scripture, or Word of God, as inter- 



36 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



preted by each one's private judgment. For 
when Protestants appeal to Scripture, as the 
only rule of faith, they do not mean the Scrip- 
ture, as interpreted to them by the church ; 
for if they had gone by this rule, their reforma- 
tion would have been stifled in the very cradle ; 
much less they mean the Scripture as inter- 
preted by any particular minister or preacher ; 
but as interpreted by every Christian of sound 
judgment, who has, according to the principles 
of the reformation, a right to interpret it for 
himself, and is no more obliged to follow the 
interpretation of Luther, for example, or of Cal- 
vin, or of any other divine, synod, or church, if 
their interpretation seem not to him agreeable 
to the true meaning of God's word, than they 
were obliged to follow the interpretation of 
the Catholic church. Whosoever disallows 
of this truly Protestant rule of faith, must con- 
demn the reformation begun by a single man, 
in opposition to the whole world : and who- 
soever maintains this rule must consequently 
allow all those who steer by it to be true Pro- 
testants, however disagreeing their principles 
in religion may otherwise be, nay, though there 
were not two of them all that agreed in any 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



37 



one single article, except this, of taking the 
Bible alone, as interpreted by themselves, for 
their rule of faith. Which indeed is the source 
of all their disagreements ; so that there can 
be no hopes of their ever being united in one 
body, as long as they follow this rule of faith. 
So much have Catholics the advantage over 
Protestants in this point of unity. 

As to disputes amongst Catholic divines, 
which our adversaries sometimes allege, in 
order to disprove the unity of the church : it 
may suffice for an answer to this objection, to 
remark two things. 1st, that these differences 
are never in matters decided by the church ; 
and consequently are only in matters of opin- 
ion, never in matters of faith. 2dly, that these 
school questions make no breach of commu- 
nion, and consequently divide not the unity of 
the church. Can Protestants say as much of 
the differences that are amongst them, which 
have no communion one with another ? 



4* 



CATHOLIC DOCTHIXE. 



CHAPTER lY. 

COmirXION WITH THE SEE OF PETER, THE 
CE^'TIlE OF UNITY. 

One great means for maintaining the Church 
in unity, was the institution of one chief pas- 
tor to have a superiority and superintendence 
over the rest; that so all being subjected to 
one, might be united in one centre ; upon 
this account, as the holy fathers have observed, 
our Lord made choice of St. Peter, to make 
him the chief and head among the apostles, 
'^that a head being constituted," says St. 
Jerome, (lib. 1, contra Jovin.). occasion of 
schism might be taken away." Ut capita 
constituta, schismatis tolleretur occasio. See 
also St. Cyprian, lib. de Unitate Ecclesiee, St. 
Optatus, lib. 2, contra Parmenianum, &c. 

In effect, nothing can be more evident from 
Scripture, than that our Lord did make St. 
Peter the chief pastor of the church ; giving 
him a name that implied no less than a rock 
or foundation stone, St. John, i. 42 ; St. Matt, 
xvi. IS ; promising him the keys of the king- 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



39 



dom of heaven, with the chief power of bind- 
ing and loosing," v. 19, praying for him that 
f« his faith might not fail," and giving him the 
commission to confirm his brethren, viz., the 
rest of the apostles, St. Luke, xxii. 31, 32. 
In fine, three times committing to his care all 
his lambs and all his sheep, without exception, 
that is, his whole flock, St. John, xxi. 15, &c. 
after having asked him, Dost thou love rae 
more than these r" 

And as our Lord was pleased to constitute 
one head among the apostles, in the person of 
St. Peter, as the best preservative against 
schism, and the best form of church govern- 
ment ; so it is not in the least to be question- 
ed, but that he designed the same form of 
government to continue in his church till the 
end of the world; and that St. Peter's prero- 
gative should descend to his successors : for 
how can any Christian imagine Christ should 
appoint a head for the government of his 
church, and maintaining of unity during the 
apostles' time, and design another kind of go- 
vernment for succeeding ages, when there was 
like to be so much more need of a head? 
Consequently it must be granted that St. 



40 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



Peter's supremacy was by divine institution to 
descend to his successors : and these suc- 
cessors are no others than the bishop of Rome. 
For neither has the church of God ever ac- 
knowledged any others, nor have any others 
claimed the title of St. Peter's successors ; and 
in that quality exercised jurisdiction in all 
parts of the church from the earliest times of 
Christianity. 

Hence the holy fathers have frequently ap- 
pealed to the Roman succession and tradition, 
as the touchstone of orthodox faith; have 
looked upon the Roman chair as the centre 
of Catholic unity, and ever alleged the com- 
munion with the apostolic see as a mark of 
the true church, and an invincible argument 
against all sectaries. "Witness the following 
testimonies : 

1. St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, and martyr 
in the second century, -who in his younger 
days had been a hearer of St. Polycarp, dis- 
ciple of the apostles, in his third book against 
all heresies, chap. 3, thus delivers himself. 

Because it w^ould be an endless business, in 
a work like this, to trace up the succession of 
all the churches; we allege the tradition 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



41 



which that greatest and most ancient church, 
well known to all, founded and established at 
Rome by the two most glorious apostles Peter 
and Paul, has received from the apostles, and 
the faith which has been there delivered, 
coming down to us by succession of bishops ; 
and so we confound all those who, either 
through a wicked self-complacence or vain 
glory, or else through blindness and error of 
judgment, make unlawful assemblies (prseter- 
quam oportet colligunt). For to this church, 
by reason of its more powerful principality, 
(propter potentiorem, or as others read it, 
potiorem principalitatem,) it is necessary that 
every church has recourse, (necesse est omnem 
convenire ecclesiam,) that is, the faithful on all 
sides. In which [church] the apostolical tra- 
dition has always been preserved by those that 
are in every place. 

After this he sets down the succession of 
the bishops of Rome thus. <'The apostles 
having founded and established the church, 
entrusted the episcopal ministry to Linuf;, who 
is mentioned by St. Paul in his epistle to 
Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus. Af- 
ter him Clement, the third from the apostles, 



42 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE . 



inherited the bishopric, who also had seen the 
blessed apostles, and conversed with them. 
To this Clement succeeded Evaristus ; Alex- 
ander; to whom succeeded Xystus, sixth 
from the apostles. After him came Telespho- 
rus, who also suffered a glorious martyrdom. 
Then Hyginus ; after him Pius» To whom 
succeeded Anicetus, who had for his successor 
Soter. And now EleutheriuSj in the twelfth 
place from the apostles, inherits the bishopric. 
By this order and succession the tradition of 
the apostles in the church, and the preaching 
of the truth has come down to us. And this 
is a full evidence, [plenissima ostentio, a most 
clear demonstration] that it is one and the same 
life-giving faith, which from the apostles' days 
has been preserved in the church till now." 
So far St. Irenaeus, 

2. Tertullian, writer of the same age, makes 
use of the same argument against all heretics, 
(Lib. prsescript. chap. 36.) Come on now," 
Says he, " you who have a mind to exercise a 
audable curiosity in the concern of your salva- 
tion. Run through the apostolic churches, in 
which to this day is maintained a succession in 
the very chairs of the apostles, (apud quas ipsae 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



43 



adhuc cathedrae apostolorum suis praesidentur 
locis.) If you are near Italy, you have Rome, 
from whence we also (Africans) have authority 
at hand. A church happy in her condition, to 
which the apostles bequeathed their whole doc- 
trine with their blood : here Peter was honoured 
with the resemblance of the Lord's passion : 
here Paul was crowned with the martyrdom 
of the Baptist; here John the apostle, after 
coming out without hurt from the burning oil, 
received sentence of banishment in an island. 
Let us see what this church has learnt, what 
she has taught, &c." Where he goes on, con- 
futing all the prevailing heresies of those days 
by the doctrine of the church of Rome. 

3. St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, and 
martyr in the third century, in 55th epistle to 
Pope Cornelius, complaining of certain African 
schismatics, delivers himself in this manner. 
^< Moreover they dare to cross the seas, and 
carry letters from their schismatical and pro- 
fane faction to the chair of Peter and the prin- 
cipal church from which the priestly unity has 
its origin, (Ecclesiam, principalem, unde uni- 
tas sacerdotalis exorta est,) not considering 
that the Romans are they whose faith was 



44 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



praised by the apostles, (Rom. i.) to whom 
false faith (perfidia) has no access." 

4. St. Optatus, bishop of Milevis in Numi- 
dia, and one of the principal champions of the 
church of God against the Donatists, in his 
sacred book against Parmenianus the Dona- 
tist, bishop of Carthage, thus addresses him- 
self to his adversary. You cannot pretend 
to be ignorant that Peter held fast the bishop's 
chair in the city of Rome, in which Peter, 
head of all the apostles, sat — in which one 
chair, unity might be maintained by all ; lest 
the rest of the apostles should each one claim 
his own separate chair. So that he is now a 
schismatic and offender, who against this 
single chair erects any other. In this one 
chair, which is the first of the properties of 
the church, Peter first sat; to him succeeded 
Linus, to him Clement, &c. ; to Liberius suc- 
ceeded Damasus; to Damasus, Siricius, the 
present bishop ; with whom we (the Catholics 
of Africa) and all the world communicate. 
Give you now an account of the origin of 
your chair, you who claim to yourselves the 
holy catholic church." So far St. Optatus. 

5. St. Jerome, writing to Pope Damasus, 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



45 



Epist. 57, Anno 376. Because the east, 
divided by intestine jars, rends in pieces the 
seamless coat of Christ, — so that in the midst 
of these broken cisterns, that hold no water, 
it is hard to find out the sealed fountain and 
enclosed garden : therefore have I thought it 
proper to consult the chair of Peter, and that 
faith which was praised by the mouth of the 
apostle, seeking from thence food for my soul, 
where I first put on the garment of Christ. I 
am joined in communion with your holiness, 
that is, with the chair of Peter: upon that 
rock I know the church is built : whoever eats 
the Lamb out of this house is profane ; whoso- 
ever is not in the ark shall perish in the deluge. 
I know not Vitalis, I reject Meletius, I am 
ignorant of Paulinus, (he speaks of the three 
that at that time contended for the patriarchal 
see of Antioch :) Whosoever gathers not with 
thee, scatters ; that is, he who is not of Christ, 
belongs to Antichrist." 

And in his 58th epistle to the same Pope. 

On one side of me, the Arian fury rages, 
supported by the secular power; on the other 
side, the church (of Antioch) divided in three 
parts, seeks to draw me to her. In the mean 
5 



46 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



time I cry out, whosoever is joined with the 
apostolical see, he is my man." So far St. 
Jerome. 

6. St. Augustin, in his psalm against the 
Donatists, thus speaks to these schismatics. 

Come, brethren, if you have a mind to be 
engrafted in the vine, it is a pity to see you 
lie lopped off in this manner from the stock. 
Reckon up the prelates in the very see of 
Peter ; and in that order of fathers, see which 
has succeeded which. This is the rock over 
which the proud gates of hell prevail not." 
He makes use of the same argument of the 
succession of bishops of Rome from St. Peter, 
against the Donatists, in his 165th epistle to 
Generosus : and against the Manichoeans and 
all other heretics, in his book of the Advan- 
tage of believing, c. 17. 

And in his book against the epistle of Ma- 
nichseus, which was called the Foundation, 
chap. 4, he gives it amongst other arguments 
or motives of credibility, which made him 
prefer the Catholic communion to all others ; 
where he writes as follows : Not to speak of 
that most sincere wisdom, which you (Ma- 
nichseans) do not believe to be in the Catholic 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



47 



church, there are many other things which 
most justly hold me in her communion. 1. 
The agreement of people and nations. 2. Her 
authority begun by miracles, nourished by 
hope, increased by charity, confirmed by an- 
tiquity. 3. A succession of priests descend- 
ing from Peter the Apostle, to whom Christ 
after his resurrection, committed his flock to 
the present bishop. Lastly, the very name of 
Catholic, of which this church alone has, not 
without reason, in such manner kept the pos- 
session, that though all heretics desire to be 
called Catholics, if a stranger were to ask 
them where the Catholics go to church, none 
of them all has the face to point out his own 
church or meeting-house." So far St. Augustin. 
And let the world judge by this, what his sen- 
timents would be of modern sectaries. 

From all that has been said in this section, 
we gather the following arguments in favour 
of the ancient religion. 1. We alone com- 
municate with the successors of Peter, to 
whom Christ committed his whole flock : 
therefore, we alone are the sheep of Christ. 
2dly. The chair of Peter was, according to all 
antiquity, established by Christ to be the cen- 



48 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



tre of unity to the \Thole Church : v^e alone 
are united to this centre of unity. Sdly. The 
Roman succession and tradition is ever urged 
by the fathers as an invincible ar2:ument against 
all sectaries : this succession and tradition is 
wholly on our side. 



CATHOLIC DOCTRI^'E. 



49 



CHAPTER V. 

CHANGE OF RELIGION IN ENGLAND Vv'AS MADE 
WITHOUT THE FREE CONSENT OF THE CLERGY. 

When our adversaries say, that the changes 
in religion, (which they call reformation^^ were 
made in direct opposition to the Church au- 
thority and lawful superiors : the common 
answer is, that though this may be true of 
foreign parts, yet in England the bishops and 
the whole clergy freely reformed themselves 
by their own authority, without any previous 
threats or fears, or any interested compliance 
with . the designs of the court. 

This, if true, could neither justify the refor- 
mation, nor hinder it from being made ao;ainst 
a lawful and superior church authority, as 
will appear by and by. But indeed the fact 
was quire otherwise. Eor the greater part of 
the English clergy never consented to the re- 
formation, till it was not safe to oppose it. 
This is proved unanswerably in 5th part of 
Church government. I shall only mention a 
few particulars ; which yet, perhaps, may be 
sufBcient to let the reader know, that the Ene- 
5* 



50 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



lish reformation in all its three changes was a 
mere creature of the state. 

1. The reformation began in the 22d year 
of King Henry VIIL, was carried on in the 
minority of King Edward VL, and finished by 
Queen Elizabeth. As to the present state of 
it, it is wholly owing to her. For what King 
Henry, and the Duke of Somerset had done 
in his pupil's name, w^as all repealed by the 
joint authority of church and state, in Queen 
Mary's reign. The original cause of the re- 
formation was this : King Henry VIII. finding 
the Pope would not agree to let him put away 
Queen Catherine, (after he had lived with her 
in marriage above tw^enty years) that he might 
be able to do it himself, resolved to take upon 
him the new title of Supreme head of the 
Church of England in spirituals. This was to 
strip the Pope at once of a two-fold title of 
spiritual supremacy over him and his subjects. 
First, as St. Peter's successor in the care of 
the whole Church. Secondly, as the western 
Patriarch. The first of these titles, when Lu- 
ther began to question it, had been asserted 
briskly by King Henry VIIL, w^ho had, upon 
that account, received from the Pope the title 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



51 



of Defender of the Faith. The Pope's se- 
cond claim admitted of no dispute, it being an 
uncontested fact, that in spiritual concerns the 
island had been nine hundred years under 
him as Patriarch, or chief Metropolitan of the 
west. But the king being resolved to be the 
only spiritual head of his people, brought the 
clergy over to his side by this stratagem. He 
demands an hundred thousand pounds of 
them for the expenses, which, by their faults, 
he said he had been at in procuring authentic 
testimonies of foreign universities against his 
marriage. The clergy refusing to give so great 
a sum, he cast them under a premunire, so 
that now they are liable to be imprisoned, and 
to have their estates confiscated at his plea- 
sure. For their ransom they offer a hundred 
thousand pounds, but are told by the court, 
that it* is too late unless they will also own the 
king's supremacy. They consent with this 
reserve, as far as is consistent with the laws 
of Christ. But the king will have no limita- 
tion. They must either absolutely submit, or 
the premunire must be executed. The whole 
is related by Archbishop Parker in his Antiq. 
Brit. p. 326. Thus was the first and main 



52 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



article of the reformation gained. And we 
see what mighty freedom the clergy had in it. 
I must call it the main article, because the 
spiritual supremacy of the crown gave both 
a being and authority to all the other parts of 
the reformation. For none of the three re- 
forming princes undertook that work either in 
the name or by the authority of the clergy, but 
only by virtue of their spiritual supremacy, 
and as supreme judges in controversies of re- 
ligion. 

King Henry carried the reformation no far- 
ther. However he took care it should never 
be in the power of the clergy to oppose the 
court in matters of religion. For he peremp- 
torily required of them, says Dr. Heylin, that 
no constitution or ordinance shall be hereafter 
by the clergy enacted, promulged, or put in 
execution, unless the king's highness approve 
it. And to this, says he, on the 15th of May, 
1532, they made their absolute submission. 
Thus far then these gentlemen make but a 
mean figure in the reformation. 

2. In the first year of King Edward VI., (a 
child ten years old,) the clergy was assembled 
to push it forward. But nothing could be got 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



53 



from them. On the contrary, the convocation 
offered a remonstrance to the king, (recorded 
by Dr. Stillingfleet, Iren. part 2, chap. 8,) 
that statute should pass concerning religion, 
without the assent of the clergy. Nothing 
surely could be more reasonable, if it was to 
be their act. But this could not be obtained. 

3. In the third and fourth year of the same 
prince, the Parliament authorized sixteen lay- 
men and as many of the clergy, (whom the 
court should nominate,) to make what changes 
they, or the greater part of them, thought fit 
in the laws of the church. So that here one 
clergyman's vote, (and it is strange if the 
court could not find one for their purpose,) 
joined wdth sixteen laymen, was enough to 
carry on the reformation, against the whole 
body of the clergy. But before this the Duke 
of Somerset, in King Edward's name, had 
made almost a general reformation through 
the realm. For it was not thought safe to let 
it be done by the clergy, both Mr. Fuller and 
Dr. Heylin confess. 

4. The forty-two articles of that religion, 
An. 1552, carry in their front the name of a 
synod. Indeed the clergy had now been five 



54 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



years in modellingj as it were on a stage, new 
players coming in, and the old ones being cast 
out, says Fox, p. 1180. But Mr. Fuller lets 
his readers know, that these articles were not 
really made by any synod at all : and the true 
reason, says he, why the king could not trust 
the diffusive body of the convocation with a 
power of meddling with matters of religion, 
was a just jealousy which he had of the ill 
affection of the major part thereof, L. 7, Hist, 
p. 420. 

Bishop Ridley gives us the same account. 
The most part of the clergy, says he, parsons, 
prebendaries, archdeacons, deans, and bish- 
ops too, for the most part, were never per- 
suaded in their hearts (of the reformation) but 
from the teeth forward, and for the king's sake ; 
Fox, p. 1616. So that if King Edward's re- 
formation had been left to the clergy, it had 
never been made at all. 

5. It is no small confirmation of this, that 
when a synod was called within five or six 
days after Queen Mary's coronation, and before 
any new moulding of the ecclesiastical body, 
all but six voted against King Edward's re- 
formation. 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



55 



6. Queen Elizabeth, as Dr. Heylin fairly 
owns, went the same way to w^ork in the 
reformation, w^hich her two predecessors, 
King Henry and King Edward, had done be- 
fore her. That is, she did all by her own 
authority. But when the times, says he, w^ere 
better settled, (that is, when she had changed, 
frightened, punished, and overawed the 
clergy,) she left church-work to the disposing 
of church-men. Thus Dr. Heylin, Eccles. 
Vind. § 6, p. 36. Indeed she might safely 
do it. 

7. Her first parliament gives her full power 
and authority (by virtue of this act) to name 
and authorize such persons as her majesty 
shall think meet to reform the nation. Act I. 
Elizabeth, c. i. Though all the bishops, that 
were then in parliament, opposed this statute. 
Camden, I. Elizabeth. And, now, without 
making use of any one clergyman, she can 
reform the whole clergy. 

8. She stood, doubtless, in need of a pretty 
large commission. For Dr. Heylin gives this 
account of her clergy : <^ The bishops at that 
time," says he, w^ere reduced to a narrow^er 
number than ever before; there being no more 



56 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



than fifteen of that sacred order alive. These, 
being called by some of the lords of the coun- 
cil, were required to take the oath of supre- 
macy." Kitchen of Landaff, (whom Cam- 
den states the calamity of his see,) only takes 
it; who having formerly submitted to every 
change under King Henry VIII., King Ed- 
ward VI., and Queen Mary, resolved to show 
himself no changeling in not conforming him- 
self to the pleasures of the higher powers. 
By all the rest it was refused. Whereupon 
they were deprived of their bishopricks. And 
wdth them fifteen presidents of colleges, twelve 
deans, twelve archdeacons, six abbots, and 
fifty prebendaries were removed. 

9. As to the convocation, w-hich sat the 
same time with her first parliament, Mr. 
Fuller writes thus of it, L. 9. It is observed 
in nature, that w^hen one twin is of an unusual 
strength and bigness, the other born with it is 
w^eak, and dwindles away ; so here, Queen 
Elizabeth's first parliament being very active 
in matters of religion, the convocation, 
younger brother thereunto, w^as little em- 
ployed, less regarded. It seems church busi- 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



57 



ness was not yet to be trusted in the hands of 
churchmen. 

10. The same historian, (L. 9, p. ^4,) 
copied from the authentic register, the follow- 
ing articles signed by the convocation and 
both universities. 

First. In the sacrament of the altar, after 
consecration, the natural body and blood of 
Christ is really present under the appearance 
of bread and wine. 

2. The substance of bread and wine does 
not remain after consecration. 

3. In the Mass, is offered the true body 
and blood of Christ, a propitiatory sacrifice for 
the living and the dead. 

4. The chief *power of governing the 
church of Christ upon earth was given to St. 
Peter, and to his lawful successors in the see 
apostolic, as to vicars of Christ. To these 
the convocation added : 

5. The authority of treating and defining 
matters relating to faith, sacraments, and 
church discipline, has always hitherto be- 
longed, and ought only to belong to the 
pastors of the church, w^hom the Holy Ghost 

6 



58 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



has appointed in it for that end, and not lay- 
men. 

If these few instances be not enough to 
convince any impartial reader, that the body 
of the clergy came not into the reformation by 
their own free will and unbiassed choice, I 
must confess I know not what evidence 
means. But I have still an observation or 
two to make. 

The first is notorious in the highest degree, 
and Dr. Heylin has publicly confessed it, that 
the reformation was not an effect of pure zeal, 
but qualified with a desire, not altogether 
spiritual, of church lands and treasures of an 
immense value. The grand object, plunder. 
The first royal plunderer, and his trusty ad- 
herents in both houses of parliament, had the 
largest and best share of the prize. 

But still there were many sweetbits left both 
for the crown and nobility, that it should 
afterwards engage in so Christian and profit- 
able an undertaking. And having such a 
prodigious gain in hand, and heaven at a 
much easier purchase than formerly, it is no 
wonder that the reformation went on in spite 
of the clergy, who all got little by it. Some 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



59 



of them opposed the court projects, and by 
suffering, taught others to conform. The 
greatest part had no vocation to martyrdom, 
and so were forced to submit. The second 
observation is, that King Henry and Queen 
Elizabeth (besides the fairest prospect ima- 
ginable of enriching themselves and their 
friends,) had other powerful views, which 
made the reformation necessary. He had no 
other tneans to be rid of Queen Catherine ; 
and Queen Elizabeth being born of a second 
wife whilst the first was living, knew very 
well (says Dr» Heylin,) that her title to the 
crown and the Pope's supremacy could not 
stand together ; and that she could not main- 
tain the one without a discarding of the other. 
She found then one of the greatest interests 
upon earth in the reformation, which was pro- 
bably the reason of her being so much more 
clear-sighted than her clergy. 

I observe, thirdly, that since the Pope 
(even setting aside that supremacy which he 
has from St. Peter's successor,) had another 
undoubted one over England, as the western 
patriarch, confirmed by the practice of nine 
hundred years, which therefore gave him a 



60 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



more ancient title over the kingdom in 
spiritual concerns, than any of the royal 
plunderers could perhaps show they had to the 
crown ; it was but just, that the clergy should 
have freely debated a matter, in which their 
own duty, as well as the conscience of their 
sovereign, was so immediately concerned. 
But it seems the court was of another opinion 
in all the three reigns. 

If you say, 1st, That what King Edward 
did by the advice of his privy council, was 
approved by Cranmer, (iVrchbishop of Can- 
terbury,) who was in it, I answer, 1st, That 
the same form would have been used, though 
Cranmer had dissented. 2. That he did not 
act there as Archbishop of Canterbury. 3. 
What is this to the body of the clergy ? 

If you say, 2dly, That all the acts of parha- 
ment were made by the lords spiritual and 
temporal, I answer, that this form too is used, 
though all the bishops vote against the act. 
As happened in Queen Elizabeth's first par- 
liament, for reformation. 

If you say, 3dly, That in her time the 
clergy approved it, I answer, it was not so in 
the beginning ; for then the bishops, the con- 
vocation, and both universities were against 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



61 



it. And if afterwards the clergy consented, 
it was not till they had seen lives and livings 
ost, incumbents changed, and that it w^as 
utterly unsafe to resist the measures of the 
court. If the Pope had used the same method 
in the Council of Trent, if he had made a 
great number of the bishops incapable of pre- 
ferments, had he deprived them of their 
bishoprics, loaded them with chains, or sent 
them into banishment to frighten the rest, 
would the council have been free ? Yet this 
was all the liberty that Queen Elizabeth's 
clergy had w^hen they consented to the 
reformation. It was just such a consent as is 
given to a highway robber when he presents 
a pistol to the breast of his victim, whose 
money he demands under pain of death. 

But let us suppose after all, that they had 
given their consent with all the freedom 
imaginable, it must still be owned, that the 
reformation was made in opposition to a law^- 
ful church authority, even setting aside the 
question of the Pope's supremacy by divine 
right. Unless we imagine that many hundred 
years are not enough to fix the right of a 
metropolitan; that parts are not subject to the 
6* 



62 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



whole ; and that the whole body of Catholic 
pastors has no authority over a few dissenting 
prelates. For Ist, the English bishops, with 
their clergy, had been a part of the western 
patriarchate from their conversion to Chris- 
tianity. 2dly, They were also a part of the 
whole Catholic clergy, against whose will and 
authority they made the change called by them 
reformation. Hence these two important truths 
of necessity follow. 

First, That England, before the reforma- 
tion, was subject to a foreign right in the con- 
cerns of religion, and that this right is such as 
no human power can overrule. Because as a 
part of Christ's church it was subject to the 
whole. And no monarch can pretend to de- 
prive the whole church of Christ of that spi- 
ritual powerj which Christ himself was pleased 
to give it over its members, no more than 
Herod or Pontius Pilate could, and surely 
they had none at all. 

It follows, secondly. That the^reformation 
cannot be justified. 

For, first, it is against common sense to say, 
that twenty-six bishops are included Hn the 
whole, and yet not subject to the authority and 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



63 



censures of it. It was, says Mr. Thorndike, a 
contradiction for the church of England to 
pray for the Catholic church, and the unity of 
it, and yet to renounce the jurisdiction of the 
whole church, and the general councils thereof 
over England. (Due ways of composing Diff. 

p- 7.) 

Secondly, it is clear by the universal tradi- 
tion of all ages, that the supreme authority of 
deciding controversies in religion is in the 
main body of Catholic pastors, so that a few 
dissenting bishops, (as twenty-six, against 
many hundreds,) of howfair a character soever, 
are not to be regarded. But should they be 
forced to give their consent under fear of death, 
as was the case with most of them, it makes 
the affair look worse. But what shall we say 
of Elizabeth's bishops who never received any 
ordination ? Surely they had no authority 
over the whole church of God^ no more than 
any other twenty laymen. 

Thirdly, if twenty-six bishops may outvote 
many hundreds, even all the bishops of the 
whole church of Christ, six or a much less 
number, may outvote twenty-six, and by this 
means it will be impossible for the faithful to 



64 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



know certainly who are the judges and guides 
whom they ought to follow : unless the people 
must take the cause into their own hands, and 
constitute themselves judges over those of 
Christ's appointment, and overrule their pas- 
tors whom the Holy Ghost appointed to rule 
the church of God. That is, unless they must 
invert the whole order of judicature which 
Christ established for them in his church, 
when he appointed them " pastors and teach- 
ers, that they might not be tossed to and fro, 
and carried about with every wind of doc- 
trine : the faith of which pastors the people 
ought to follow." Eph. iv. 11, 14; Heb. 
xiii. 7. 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



65 



CHAPTER VI. 

OF INFALLIBILITY. 

The Church of Christ is infallible in all her 
decisions relating to matters of faith. This is 
a truth grounded upon the most express and 
positive promise of Christ. 1. That the 
gates of hell (the power of darkness and error) 
shall not prevail against his church," Matt, 
xvi. 16j which undoubtedly they would, if 
she were corrupted in her faith. 2. That 
the spirit of truth," John xvi. 13, and that 
«^ for ever," John xiv. 16 ; Matt, xxviii. 20, 
which therefore cannot be understood of the 
apostles only, because they were not to re- 
main here for ever. 

It is upon these clear promises we believe 
the church of Christ to be infallible in her 
faith. And it follows from it, that in all con- 
troversies of religion, when the church has 
once pronounced sentence, all safely may and 
ought to submit to her judgment. For surely 
he must have very little sense, who is afraid 
of being misled, w^hen he follows the direc- 
tions of an infallible guide. 



66 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



To render this submission still more ration- 
al, the Holy Ghost has taken care to establish 
the church's authority in the plainest and 
strongest terms. First, our blessed Redeemer 
has already pronounced sentence on those 
who will not hear his church : but if he will 
not hear the church," says he, let him be to 
thee a heathen and a publican," Matt, xviii. 
17 ; which, if true in private disputes, is more 
evidently so in public controversies of a higher 
concern. In another place he thus settles 
the authority of scriptural guides: '^He that 
hears you, hears me : and he that despises you, 
despises me." Luke x. 16. 

Secondly, St. Paul positively affirms that 
the church of Christ is the pillar and ground 
of truth," 1 Tim. iii. 15, which cannot be true 
if she be capable of seducing her children by 
false doctrines. Upon this principle, in his 
epistle to the Hebrews, he instructs them in 
the important lesson of submission to their 
spiritual guides : obey them that have the 
rule over you, and submit yourselves." Heb. 
xiii. 17. And speaking of the same guides, 

whose faith follow," says he, Heb. v. 7. 

Again, writing to the Ephesians, he lets 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



67 



them know «^that God has appointed and 
placed in his church apostles, prophets, and 
evangeUsts, also pastors and teachers," Eph. 
iv. 11. For what end? v. 12, «'for the per- 
fecting of the saints, for the work of the 
ministry, for the edifying of the mystical 
body of Christ." How long? v. 13, till 
we all come to the unity of faith." For what 
end ? V. 14, that henceforth we be no more 
like children tossed to and fro, and carried 
about with every wind of doctrine by the 
slight of cunning men, lying in wait to de- 
ceive." This is evidently spoken in reference 
to the people who are here taught, first, that 
the pastors of the church are appointed by 
God himself to be their guides in faith; se- 
condly, that these guides shall continue in the 
church of Christ without ceasing, to the end 
of the world, till we all come to the unity 
of faith ;" thirdly, that in all controversies of 
religion, it belongs to these guides to fix the 
wavering judgment of the people against all 
the wicked arts of impostors and seducers, 
and that the faithful ought to rely on their di- 
rections with an entire confidence. 

For unless they may be safely depended on, 



68 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



they would not fully answer the end of their 
institution ; the people, especially the igno- 
rant, upon every new difficult debafe, would 
be left to an uncertainty. But God has estab- 
lished his covenant upon better promises, 
Heb. viii. 6, who has settled upon earth a 
visible church, which is the pillar and ground 
of truth, against which the gates of hell shall 
never prevail, and to which he has promised 
the spirit of truth for ever. So that I leave 
any one to judge whether they who refuse to 
submit their private reason to the authority of 
this church, be not in danger of being self- 
convicted at the great tribunal of God? 

Hence I infer, first, that whosoever is a 
member of any church, that owns itself to be 
fallible, and subject to errors in faith, is not a 
member of the church to which Christ has 
promised his Spirit for ever. 

I infer, secondly, that he is not a member 
of the true church, because only that church 
which Christ established, and to which he 
made that promise, is the true one. And I 
leave it to him to consider whether any man 
can hope to attain salvation who lives wilfully 
out of the communion of that church which 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



69 



Christ came to establish for the salvation of 
mankind, and of which it is said, Acts xi. 47, 

The Lord added to the church daily such as 
should be saved." 

I infer, thirdly, that the church of Christ 
can never be under any necessity of having 
her faith reformed. For if she can never fall 
into any errors destructive to the faith revealed 
by God, what need can there be of any such 
reformation ? 

I infer, lastly, that if all men had but faith 
enough to believe the church established by 
Christ himself to be our guide, and humility 
enough to submit their judgment to hers, there 
had never been any heresy in the Christian 
world, which, as it shows on the one hand the 
excellency of Christ's institution, so on the other, 
it is a dreadful instance of the pride and misery 
of mankind, who had rather lose heaven by 
presumption than gain it by following better 
lights than their own. Isaias thus prophesies : 

The Redeemer shall come to Sion, &c. My 
Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which 
I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out 
of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy 
seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, 
7 



70 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



says the Lord, from henceforth and forever." 
Is. lix. 20, 21. They shall fear thee as long 
as the sun and moon endure, throughout all 
generations," Ps. Ixxii. Heb. v. 5, which is 
a plain and positive prediction that the church's 
infallibility was to be perpetual, and last to 
the end of the world. 

Dan. chap, ii., interpreting the dream of 
Nebuchadnezzar, v. 34, 35, Thou sawest 
till that a stone was cut out without hands, 
which smote the image upon his feet, and 
broke them to pieces, and the stone that smote 
the image became a great mountain, and filled 
the whole earth." V. 44, " And in the days of 
these kings shall the God of heaven set up a 
kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and 
it shall stand for ever." 

Psalm kxxix. relates also to Christ and his 
church ; v. 3 and 4 : " I have made a cove- 
nant with my chosen, I have sworn unto Da- 
vid my servant : thy seed (Christ and his 
church) will I establish for ever, and build up 
thy throne to all generations." V.27, &c. I 
will make him my first born, higher than the 
kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for 
him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



71 



fast with him. His seed also will I make to 
endure for ever, and his throne as the days of 
heaven. If his children forsake my law, and 
walk not in my judgments, if they break my 
statutes, and keep not my commandments, 
then will I visit their transgressions with the 
rod, and their iniquities with stripes. Never- 
theless, my loving kindness wull I not utterly 
take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to 
fail ; my covenant will I not break, nor alter 
the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once 
have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not 
lie unto David. His seed shall endure for 
ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It 
shall be established for ever as the moon, and 
as a faithful witness in heaven." Which glo- 
rious promise is understood of the church, 
the spiritual seed of David, by Calvin, L. 4, 
Inst. c. 1, sect. 27. 



72 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE PROTESTANT RULE OF 
FAITH AND JUDGE OF CONTROVERSIES. 

First. If scripture alone, as interpreted 
by every private Christian for himself, were 
the whole rule of Christian faith, and only 
judge in religious controversy, without taking 
along with it the traditions of the apostles and 
the interpretations of the church, this very 
thing ought to have been clearly expressed in 
scripture ; it being of the utmost consequence 
for every Christian to know by what rule he 
is to steer in matters of faith, and to what 
judge he is to have recourse for the decision of 
such controversies. Now, there is not one 
text in the whole scripture that clearly and 
expressly affirms that the scripture alone is 
the whole rule of Christian faith, and only 
judge in religious controversy, much less is 
there any text that clearly affirms that the 
scripture, as interpreted by every private Chris- 
tian, is such a rule or such a judge. There- 
fore the Protestant system of religion is a 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



73 



building without a foundation, their very rule 
of faith having no grounds for it in scripture. 

If they shall here allege. Is. viii. 20, To 
the law and to the testimony," or the words 
of Christ to the Jews, St.. John v. 39, '^Search 
the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have 
eternal life," or w^hat is said in commendation 
of the Bereans, Acts xvii. 11, for their 
searching the scriptures ; what St. Paul writes, 
1 Tim. iii. 15, 16, of the holy scriptures, 
which Timothy had known from a child, that 
they are able through faith in Jesus Christ to 
make him wise unto salvation, and that all 
scripture is profitable for doctrine," &c. All 
this falls infinitely short of proving that the 
scripture alone is the whole rule of Christian 
faith, and the sole judge of controversies. 
First, because not one of these texts speaks 
home to the point which ought to be proved, 
much less is clear and express for it. 2dly, 
because it is visible that all these texts of 
scripture then extant, that is, of the Old Tes- 
tament only ; which none of our adversaries 
will pretend to be the whole rule of Christian 
faith. 3dly, because what is said in these 
texts no ways excludes the interpretation of 
7* 



74 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



the churchj or authorizes any man to prefer 
his own private interpretation to that of the 
church of God. On the contrary, the scrip- 
ture itself expressly tells us, 2 Pet. i. 20, 
that no prophecy of the scripture is of private 
interpretation ; and 2 Pet. iii. 16, that in the 
scripture are things hard to be understood, 
which the unlearned and the unstable wrest to 
their own destruction. 

2. The scripture alone cannot be the whole 
rule of faith : Because one great article of 
Christian faith is, to believe that these books 
are divine scripture : now this we could never 
have known, but by the tradition and declara- 
tion of the church. For the scripture itself 
nowhere gives us a catalogue of the canonical 
books : it nowhere affirms, that all and every 
one of those books which are contained in the 
Protestant Bible or Testament, are the infalli- 
ble word of God. Oar adversaries therefore 
are very unhappy in their choice of a rule of 
faith, which is not only without any founda- 
tion from the scripture, but even excludes the 
scripture from being any part of their faith, 
as not coming under their only rule, by w^hich 
they pretend to steer in matters of faith. 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. T5 

3. As by the scripture alone they never 
could certainly know what books are canoni- 
cal, and what not ; so by the scripture alone, 
they could never tell certainly that those books 
which they now have, are the same as those 
which were written so long ago by the pro- 
phets and apostles. For w^hat text of scrip- 
ture assures them of this ? nay, by the scrip- 
ture alone they cannot be assured that there 
is so much as one verse in their whole Bible 
and Testament ^vhich has not been corrupted. 
How then can the Bible and Testament, which 
they now have, without having recourse to the 
tradition and authority of the Catholic church, 
be the whole rule of Christian faith ? 

4. By the scripture alone they can never 
know% at least, with certainty absolutely, what 
is the true meaning of the written word in 
points controverted among Christians : for if 
in these they will not allow the whole church 
of God, or her general councils to be infalli- 
ble in their interpretations, how much less can 
they themselves pretend to be infallibly cer- 
tain of that sense which they put upon the 
scripture : especially when their interpreta- 
tion contradicts that of all other Christians, 



76 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



and even the plain and obvious meaning of 
the words themselves ; as in the case of this 
controverted text, St. Matt. xxvi. 26 : This 
is my body." How then can the scripture 
alone be the proper judge of such controversies, 
or afford them any certainty of faith in these 
matters, when at the very most they can have 
no more certainty than an uncertain opinion, 
that their interpretation is better than that of 
other Christians ? 

5. In all our controversies of religion, the 
meaning of the scripture is the very thing in 
debate, and the main subject of the contro- 
versy: how then can the scripture alone be 
the proper judge to decide the controversy? 

6. It is the office of a judge to hear both 
sides ; and then to come to a definite sentence, 
so clear, that both parties must plainly under- 
stand on which side sentence is given. Does 
the scripture do this in our controversies? or 
what controversy was ever ended by scrip- 
ture alone ? 

7. Many things necessary to be known by 
all Christians, or at least by their pastors and 
teachers, are not plain in scripture, and the 
controversies which have risen about these 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



77 



things among Christians, cannot be clearly 
decided by scripture alone. Therefore there 
must be some other rule of Christian faith, 
and some other judge of controversies. For 
example, all Christians, or at least pastors and 
parents, ought to know whether infant bap- 
tism be valid or not ; whether it be a duty in- 
cumbent upon them to procure and adminis- 
ter it, or whether it be a sacrilege to attempt 
it ? And yet where is there a clear text of 
scripture that decides this great controversy? 
All Christians are obliged to know the sab- 
bath, which by divine law they are obliged to 
keep : and yet where is the clear text of scrip- 
ture that informs them that Christian sabbath 
ought to be the Sunday, and not the Satur- 
day ? All Christians, or at least the pastors 
of the church, are obliged to know in what 
manner baptism is to be administered, in order 
to the validity of the performance ; whether 
sprinkling may suffice, or whether immersion 
or dipping, which was certainly used by the 
apostles, be necessary ? Whether baptism by 
heretics be valid or not; that so they may 
know in what manner to receive into the 
church such as have been baptized by them ? 



78 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



Whether ministers only, or laymen also, may 
baptize, or consecrate ? Whether Christians 
may lawfully go to war ? may swear before a 
magistrate ? may go to law ? &c. Now^ not 
one of these things can be clearly made out 
by scripture alone. 

8. Scripture was not the first rule of Chris- 
tian faith, but the unwritten word of Christ, 
preached and delivered by the living voice of 
the pastors of the church, before the New 
Testament v^^as written : how came this first 
rule to lose its authority? The apostles in 
their writings refer to their unwritten word ; 
this they command the faithful to stand to. 2 
Thessal. ii. 15. And they pronounce an 
anathema against all those that shall presume 
to alter it. Gal. i. 8, 9. How then comes the 
written word to be the whole rule of Christian 
faith? 

9. Faith comes (not by reading, but) by 
hearing, according to the apostle, Rom. x. 
17. Therefore the word of God, which is 
the rule of Christian faith, is the word which 
is preached, and not barely the written word. 

10. We do not find in scripture or tradi- 
tion, that our Lord ever commanded his dis- 



J 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



79 



ciples to write, but to preach : we do not find 
that the apostle took any care to translate the 
scriptures into the vulgar languages of the 
people w^hom they converted to the faith. 
Therefore it is not probable, that either our 
Lord designed that the scripture should be 
the whole rule of Christian faith, or that the 
apostle ever believed it to be such. Now, even 
had the apostles translated the scriptures, and 
given a copy to every one converted by their 
preaching, yet this would not lessen their au- 
thority to teach all nations, and preach the 
gospel to every creature. 

11. This system by which the scripture is 
made the w^hole rule of Christian faith, and 
only judge in all controversies of religion, 
sets all, both ancient and modern heretics, out 
of the reach of the church authority, and 
abolishes all possible means of suppressing 
heresy, or restoring unity to the church, which 
can never be hoped for as long as every pri- 
vate Christian is authorized to prefer his own 
comments on scripture to the judgment of the 
whole church, and may, nay, ought, like Lu- 
ther, to stand alone by his own interpreta- 
tions, against all that dissent from themj 



80 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



though it should be the whole church of God, 
of all ageSj and all nations. 

12. This system, while it pretends to reve- 
rence the scripture, is indeed highly injurious 
to it, by prostituting it to the caprice of every 
fanatic and enthusiast, and authorizing hira to 
interpret it according to his own private fancy, 
and to father the notions of his own brain (as 
we daily see raany do) upon the sacred w^ord 
of God. My God and open Bible, say they. 
But do they by this intend to signify that they 
reject the church of Christ, and despise and 
disregard its authority, although appointed by 
Christ to teach all nations, and which He pro- 
mised to be w^ith even to the end of the 
world ? If so, I would not like to be in their 
situation. The consequence of w^hich is, that 
amongst those that acknowledge no other rule, 
no other judge but scripture alone, are almost 
as many religions as men ; according to the 
infinite variety of their whimsical comments 
upon the word of God, and this without any 
prospect of their ever coming to any agree- 
ment. 

13. This way of thinking has brought back 
almost all the old, condemned heresies, and 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



81 



given rise to innumerable new ones ; there 
being no sentiment in religion so absurd, or 
so abominable, but sonSe or other of these 
have maintained it for the pure word of God, 
by virtue of this rule of scripture alone, ex- 
plained by their own private interpretation. 

14. As all, both old and new heresies, are 
justly fathered upon this principle, which gave 
birth to them all ; so all, both ancient and 
modern sectaries, that steer by this truly Pro- 
testant rule, must be acknowledged to be true 
Protestants, let their other principles in reli- 
gion be what they will ; nay, though there 
were not two men among them all that agree 
in any one single article, except this, of taking 
the Bible alone, as interpreted by themselves, 
for the rule of their faith : now, whether the 
taking in all these sects, by virtue of this 
common rule of their faith, be any honour to 
the rule or to the reformation, let Protestants 
themselves judge. 

15. The Church of God from the very begin- 
ning, never allowed private Christians to steer 
in matters of religion by the Bible, as interpreted 
by themselves ; or to appeal from her deci- 
sions, to their own interpretations of the scrip- 
8 



Mm 



82 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



tore : of which there needs no other proof 
than her condemning all ancient heresies by 
the scripture as she understood it. Therefore 
the Protestant rule of scripture alone as inter- 
preted by themselves, is not the apostolical 
rule of the primitive Christians. 

16. In every well ordered kingdom or com- 
monwealth, let the law be ever so perfect, it 
is always found necessary, that besides the 
letter of the law, there should be courts of 
judicature, or judges, to decide all controver- 
sies which may arise, without which precau- 
tion there could be no end to law^suits and 
contentions. And it would be justly looked 
upon as the greatest of all extravagancies, for 
any lawgiver to make a set of laws, and then 
to ordain, that in all disputes, which might 
afterwards arise, these laws should be the only 
judges to decide the matters in debate : and 
that each one of the contending parties should 
be obliged to stand to no other judgment than 
his own interpretation of the law. Such a 
regulation as this, would be justly looked 
upon as ^highly extravagant; because the 
necessary consequence of it would be the fill- 
ing the whole kingdom with endless jars, dis- 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



83 



order and confusion. What then can it be 
less than impeaching the wisdom of Christ, to 
imagine that he has left no living judges in his 
church, no court of judicature to decide our 
religious controversies, but only the letter of 
the law, that is, of the scripture, as interpreted 
by each one for himself? From which what 
else could follow, but that instead of truth and 
unity, w^e must be, without remedy, exposed 
to endless contention and errors ? 

17. It cannot be denied, but that God, who 
is truth itself, and can approve of nothing but 
the truth, has a sincere will that all men should 
come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Tim. 
ii. 4. And that these endless jars, this mul- 
titude of sects, this total breach of communion 
amongst Christians, can never be agreeable to 
him, who above all things has recommended 
unity to his followers, and earnestly prayed for 
their perpetual continuance in perfect unity, St. 
John xiii. xvii. Hence we cannot reasonably 
question, but that in his infinite wisdom and 
boundless goodness, he has appointed the 
most proper means to bring all to the truth, 
and maintain them in unity. Now both reason 
and experience convince us, that the scrip- 



84 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 

ture alone, as interpreted by every private 
Christian, is not proper for these ends ; but on 
the contrary, that the interpretation of scrip- 
ture by private authority is the source of all 
errors and schisms. Therefore God never 
designed that the scripture, thus interpreted, 
should be our whole rule of faith, and only 
judge in controversies. He has left us besides 
the dead letter of scripture, a living judge, to 
be the perpetual guardian, and authentic in- 
terpreter of the scripture : a judge divinely 
recommended, and divinely assisted, whose 
voice all might hear and understand ; on 
whom the most unlearned might securely rely, 
and to whom the most learned should be 
obliged to submit ; whose sentence should be 
clear and decisive ; and from whose sentence 
there should be no appeal. Now this ever 
living judge, is the ever living Church of 
God. 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



85 



CHAPTER VIII. 

APOSTOLICAL TRADITIONS. 

St. Paul says, Therefore brethren stand 
fast, and hold the traditions which you have 
been taught, whether by word, or our epistle," 
2 Thess. ii. 15. Here St. Paul speaks plainly 
of unwritten traditions taught by the apostles, 
and gives them the same weight and authority 
as to his own epistle ; because they convey 
to us the pure word of God as certainly, as 
scripture itself. 

If you say that all tradition is uncertain, 1st, 
This is evidently to contradict St. Paul, who 
tells us, that the traditions of the apostles are 
to be held steadfastly. And must not every 
thinking man, who is not hurried away with 
prejudice, be of the same mind ? For surely 
the word of God is equally the word of God, 
whether it be delivered to us by word of 
mouth, or by writing. Christ himself laid the 
foundation of the church by preaching only, 
and the apostles preached several years before 
they wrote any of the canonical books of 
scripture. Now I presume they preached the 
8* 



86 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



pure word of God, and by consequence it was 
not their writing that made it the word of God, 
for it was the word of God before they wrote 
it : and though they had never written at all, 
but delivered the whole Christian doctrine 
only by word of mouth to those who succeed- 
ed them in their apostolical charge, we should 
have been obliged to receive it as the word 
of God, and therefore with the same respect 
as we do now the holy scripture. I add, that 
if apostolical tradition be necessarily uncertam, 
we cannot be sure of the scripture itself, 
which is conveyed to us by no other channel. 
And if the books of scripture, can be infallibly 
conveyed to us by tradition from the apostles, 
why may not the Trinity or any other mystery 
of Christian faith ? The reason in both cases 
is manifestly the same. 

If you say 2dly, that all points of Christian 
doctrine were afterwards written in the Bible : I 
answer, 1. That the Bible no where says this. 
2. That the church of all ages, from which we 
received the Bible itself, tells us the contrary. 
St. Iren^us, an eminent father and martyr of 
the second age :— Suppose, (says he,) the 
apostles had left us no scriptures, ought we 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



87 



not to have followed the rule of tradition, 
which they delivered to those, to whose care 
they committed the churches?" L. 3, c. 3. 

It is apostolical, (says St. Basil,) to hold 
even unwritten tradition L. de Sp. S. C. 29. 

Tradition too is necessary, (says St. Epi- 
phanius ;) for all things can not be had from 
the scripture. Therefore the blessed apostles 
left us some things in writing, and others by 
tradition Haer. 61. 

St. Chrysostom agrees with them in the very 
same doctrine. It is clear, (says he,) the 
apostles did not deliver all things in writing, 
but many things without it, and these too de- 
serve to be behoved. Let us then give credit to 
the traditions of the church. It is tradition, seek 
no further:" Hom. 4, in Ep. 2, ad Thess. 

The word of God delivered to us by the 
tongues of men, is equal with the v/ritten w^ord 
of God delivered to us by the pens of men. 
The apostles were equally men, w^hether they 
spoke or wrote. And I here ask any one, 
whether if St. Paul had instructed him in any 
point of the Christian doctrine only by word 
of mouth, he w^ould not have believed it to be 
the word of God, and paid the same respect 



88 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



to it, as if he had written it to him in a letter ? 
This I fear is a puzzling question. 

The observance of sanctifying the Sunday, 
is a thing necessary to be done, for which 
there is no express scripture ; and we must 
dependj on tradition of the church for the 
safety of this practice in setting aside the Sa- 
turday, and keeping the Sunday instead of it. 
All which put together, shows plainly, that 
there is no error in paying the same respect to 
apostolical traditions as to the scriptures them- 
selves : because the apostles themselves taught 
nothing but the pure word of God ; which 
whether it be written or not written, is equally 
an unerring rule both of faith and practice. 

But Protestants produce five texts to prove 
that scripture contains all things necessary for 
men to believe or do. The four first are taken 
from Isa. viii. 20; John xx. 31; Gal. i. 8; 
and Eph. ii. 20. But they have so little con- 
nection with the matter they quote them for, 
that the four first verses of Genesis would be 
as much to his purpose. I appeal to the 
judgment of any man for the truth of what I 
say. 

As to the fifth text it is thus quoted. ^< From 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 89 

a child thou hast known the scriptures, which 
are able to make thee wise unto salvation, 
through faith which is in Jesus Christ, that 
the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly 
furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. iii. 
16, 17. They ought to give also 15. 

Now what were the holy scriptures which 
Timothy had known from a child ? Doubtless 
the Old Testament only, for no part of the 
New (.Testament was then written. Either 
then the New Testament is not necessary to 
make a man wise unto salvation, or apostoli- 
cal tradition may be also necessary. 

In the 16th verse, St. Paul tells us, That 
all scripture is profitable for doctrine, for re- 
proof, for correction, that the man of God may 
be perfect," &c. Of this no one doubts. But 
it is a quite different thing, to say the scrip- 
ture is profitable or useful for such and such 
effects, and to say, the scripture alone is suffi- 
cient for them. Drink is profitable for perfect 
health and all functions of life in the best and 
most complete manner. But is there no need 
of meat ? Again, meat is profitable for all the 
very same effects. But is there no need ol 
drink } I add that the scripture is even suffi- 



90 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



cient for all the ends he mentions, when 
rightly understood, that is, by the lights to 
which the scripture itself directs us, (which 
lights are chiefly apostolical tradition, and the 
sense of the church,) or when a man has 
learned from the pastors of the church the 
tenets of Christian doctrine. Then the scrip- 
ture will furnish him abundantly both with 
examples and moral instructions for all Chris- 
tian virtues. 

What the whole church holds, not instituted 
by councils, but always kept, is very rightly 
believed to be handed down only by apostolic 
authority. They who were before us in the 
church have kept the doctrine w^hich there 
they found ; there they taught what they 
learnt, have left to their children what they 
received by tradition from their forefathers. 
Quod^invenerunt in ecclesia, tenuerunt ; quod 
didiscerunt, docuerunt; quod a patribus ac- 
ceperunt, hoc filiis tradiderunt. Aug. contra 
Julianura, Lib. 2, cap. 10. What they found 
in the church they retained ; what they learned 
they taught, what they received from their 
ancestors this they delivered to their children. 

The second Council of Nice defines thus : 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



91 



Whoever shall dare to think otherwise, or 
teach after the custom of wicked heretics, to 
violate ecclesiastical traditions, let him be 
anathemas." Act 7, p. 686. AnnoDom. 781. 
The Council of Sens, thus : ^« It is a dangerous 
thing to be in that error, that nothing ought to 
be admitted which is not in scripture ; for many 
things were delivered from Christ to posterity 
by the hands of the apostles, from mouth to 
mouth, &c. which are to be held without 
doubt." Decret. 5. 



92 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, 



CHAPTER IX. 

APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION. 

Another property of the true church ' of 
Christ is, " a succession from the apostles of 
Christ." This is signified in the Nicene 
Creed, by the word apostolic or apostolical, 
when we therefore profess that we " believe 
the one. Catholic, and apostolic church." 
And it must be evident beyond dispute, since 
the apostles were by Christ's commission, the 
first fathers and founders of the church ; and 
with them and their successors, both Christ 
himself and his Holy Spirit were to remain to 
the end of the world. St. Matt, xxviii. 19, 
20, and St. John xiv. 16, 17, compared with 
Isaiah lix. 20, 21, that the true church can be 
no other than that which has a succession 
from the apostles." 

This apostolical succession, which is an 
inseparable property of the true church, im- 
plies four things, viz. 1st, A succession of a 
church, that is of a society, or communication, 
descending without interruption from that first 
society or communion established by the 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



93 



apostles. Sdly, A succession of doctrine de- 
rived in an uninterrupted channel from the 
apostles. Sdly, A succession of holy orders, 
derived from those who were ordained by the 
apostles. 4thly, A succession of lawful com- 
mission, or spiritual jurisdiction and authority 
to preach, administer the sacraments, and exe- 
cute all other branches of the pastoral office, 
which Christ gave to his apostles, St. Matt, 
xxviii. 19, and St. John xx. 21, and they 
imparted to their followers, the ministers of 
the church, lawfully called, and lawfully sent 
for, that this branch of succession is different 
from the bare succession of holy orders, is 
visible ; for bishops and priests truly ordained, 
when by heresy and schism they fall from the 
church, have true orders after their fall, be- 
cause they cannot lose their character, but 
have no lawful commission or spiritual juris- 
diction ; for this no heretic or schismatic 
either has himself, or can impart to others, 
having forfeited it by his revolt. 

Hence, for a church to be truly apostolical, 
or to have a succession from the apostles," 
it is not enough that the bishops and priests 
of this church have holy orders derived from 
9 



94 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



the apostles ; for so the Arians, Macedonians, 
Nestorians, Eutychians, and many other here- 
tics have had ; nor is it enough that with their 
orders they have also retained the doctrine of 
the apostles, as many schismatics have done, 
especially in the beginning of their schism ; 
but it is requisite moreover, that the society 
which would claim the title of apostolical, be 
not a new raised communion, separated from 
that great body of christians which descends 
in an uninterrupted channel from the apostles; 
and that its ministers act by lawful commis- 
sion, derived from that which was first given 
by Christ to the apostles; for where these 
things are wanting there can be no true church 
of Christ, but a sect, or schism, and conse- 
quently a synagogue of antichrist. 

All these four parts of apostolical succes- 
sion have been evidently promised in the 
scriptures to the true church of Christ. 1. A 
succession of a society or communion ever 
standing, and ever flourishing till time itself 
should end, St. Matt. xvi. 18, St. Matt, 
xxviii. 19, 20. St. Luke i. 32, St. John xiv. 
16, 17, Psal. Ixxii. 5, 7, Psal. Ixxxix. 27, 
&c., Isaiah liv. 9, 10, Daniel ii. 31, 44, &c. 2. 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



95 



A succession of orthodox doctrine in this same 
society or communion from the time of Christ 
and his apostles to the end of the world ; for 
which see the same texts ; as also, Isaiah 
lix. 20, 21, Ephes. iv. 11, 12, &c. 3. A 
succession of pastors lawfully ordained, Jer. 
xxxiii. 17, &c. See also St. John xx. 22, 23, 
compared with St. Matt, xxviii. 20. 4. A 
succession of spiritual jurisdiction and autho- 
rity to execute all the functions of the ministry ; 
given to the apostles for them and their suc- 
cessors, St. John XX. 21, and St. Matt, xxiii. 
18, 19, 20, without which whosoever comes 
is to be looked upon as an usurper, a thief and 
a robber, St. John x. 11, Heb. v. 1, 4. St. 
John X. 1. 

It remains that we should examine which 
of the two, the old or the new religion, bids 
the fairest for all these four branches of apos- 
tolical succession, and consequently the title 
of apostolical church. 

And first, it is evident that none of the 
modern sects of pretenders to reformation can 
claim any succession of their society or com- 
munion from the days of the apostles, because 
it is notorious to all the world that their reli- 



96 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



gion began with what they call the reforma- 
tioDj and that they are a new raised communion 
formed by going out from us ; now where 
there is a new raised communion and a change 
of religion, it is evident there can be no such 
thing as perpetual succession in the same 
communion and the same religion. In a 
word, there were no such thing as Protestants, 
Presbyterians, Lutherans, Calvinists, or by 
what other name you please to call them, 330 
years ago, nor had been for 1517 years ; 
therefore they cannot pretend to an uninter- 
rupted succession of their communion from 
the apostles. The consequence of which is, 
that none of them all can have any just claim, 
either to the scriptures or to any other part of 
the apostolical inheritance, because they de- 
scended not from the apostles, and conse- 
quently are not the right heirs of the apostles, 
but an upstart race, that have no connexion 
with the apostles. 

2dly. It is no less evident that neither Pro- 
testants, nor any other modern sectaries have 
any succession of their doctrine from the 
apostles. I speak not of that part of their 
doctrine, in which they agree with Catholics, 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



97 



which is certainly apostolical ; but of that 
part of their own doctrine which is peculiar to 
■ themselves, and from which they are denomi- 
nated Protestants, &c. For it is notorious to 
the whole world, that before the year 1517, 
there was not any where upon earth a set of 
men that held throughout the same protes- 
tancy, that is, the same protesting articles, as 
are now taught by any modern sectaries, of 
what denomination soever. 

3dly. As for succession of holy orders, the 
greatest part of modern sectaries have not the 
least claim to it, because they have no bish- 
ops descending by succession from the apos- 
tles, and consequently can have no orders 
derived from them. For it is the universal 
tradition of all churches from the very time 
of the apostles, that none are to be acknow- 
ledged for lawful ministers of the word, or 
sacraments of Christ, but those who were or- 
dained by the apostles, or the bishops of the 
church descending from them. Hence the 
Lutheran superintendents, the Calvinian pres- 
byters, &c., who are no bishops, nor ever re- 
ceived holy orders from any that were true 
bishops, are indeed no better than mere lay- 
9* 



98 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



men, not only in the judgment of all churches, 
whether catholic or schismatical, for fifteen 
hundred years after Christ, but even in the 
judgment of the best divines of the Protes- 
tant congregations abroad, as well as those of 
the dissenters at home, are indeed no churches, 
and if lay baptism, as many Protestant di- 
vines will have it, be no baptism, they are no 
Christians. Whether the English Protestant 
clergy be in any better condition, we will ex- 
amine in another place. 

4thly. As to the most essential branch of 
apostolical succession, viz : that of mission or 
commission and authority, given by Christ to 
his apostles, and derived in an uninterrupted 
channel from them, for preaching the word, 
administering the sacraments, &c. — It is what 
all sectaries have most certainly forfeited, from 
the moment they separated themselves from 
that great body of Christians which descends 
in one communion from the apostles, with 
which alone the apostles deposited their com- 
mission, and whose pastors alone are the un- 
doubted heirs of the apostles. For what claim 
can sectaries have to any mission or spiritual 
power derived from the apostles through the 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



99 



channel of the church, who at their very first 
setting out broke off from this channel ; that 
is, from the communion of the same church 
to which they pretended to appeal for their 
commission and succession, and were excom- 
municated by her chief pastors? w^hich was 
certainly the case with all the first reformers. 

To set this matter in a clearer light, it must 
be observed that all spiritual power, jurisdic- 
tion and authority must come from God, and 
cannot be executed without a criminal pre- 
sumption and usurpation any otherwise than 
by commission from him ; so that whosoever 
intrudes himself by his own appointment into 
the pastoral office, or spiritual functions, in the 
language of the scripture, is a thief and a 
robber. St. John x. 1. Now, there are but 
two ways that this divine commission, (with- 
out w^hich it would be high treason against 
God to usurp the office or functions of his 
delegates and ministers,) can be imparted to 
any person, viz., either immediately by God 
himself, as he sent Moses and the prophets in 
the Old Testament, and Christ and his apos- 
tles in the New : or else, by being licensed and 
empowered by men who have that authority 



100 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



handed down to them from those who were 
originally commissioned by God, of w^hich 
kind is the mission of all the ordinary pastors 
of the church of Christ, deriving both their 
orders and their jurisdiction from the apostles, 
who were commissioned by Christ himself, 
with a promise to abide with them and their 
successors for ever. St. Matthew xxviii. 19, 
20. 

As for that extraordinary mission immedi- 
ately from God himself, though some modern 
sectaries have pretended to it, yet none of 
them could ever yet produce the necessary 
proofs to justify their pretensions ; none of 
ihem could ever show their patents stamped 
wdth the broad seal of heaven ; that is, none 
of them could ever work any evident miracle 
in testimony of their being sent by God, which 
nevertheless was absolutely necessary for any 
prudent Christian to receive them as God's 
extraordinary delegates immediately sent from 
him. For God, who is the sovereign wisdom 
and the sovereign justice, does not expect 
that we should receive any as immediately 
sent from him upon their bare assertion ; other- 
wise we should be daily exposed to the dan- 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



101 



ger of receiving false prophets, wolves in 
sheep's clothing, who never fail to cry out, 
The Lord, the Lord, though the Lord never 
sent them. From whence we have a right to 
conclude that such as cannot produce suffi- 
cient proofs of their being sent in an extraor- 
dinary manner immediately from God himself, 
were indeed never sent by him ; since God's 
sending his delegates necessarily implies an 
obligation in men to receive those whom he 
sends, which obligation can never be where 
these pretended delegates cannot produce 
their credentials. Hence Christ himself de- 
clares that the Jews would not have sinned in 
not receiving him, if he had not done such 
works amongst them, as no one else had done," 
St. John XV. 24. So necessary it is that the 
pretensions to an extraordinary mission should 
be supported by such extraordinary proofs as 
neither ancient nor modern sectaries could 
ever yet produce. 

And if we have a right to call for these ex- 
traordinary proofs as often as any one pre- 
tends to an extraordinary mission from God, 
how much more in the case of modern secta- 
ries, whose enterprise was so extraordinary ? 
For what they made profession of was nothing 



102 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



less than altering the whole face of God's 
church ; reforming, as they called it, her faith, 
abolishing her liturgy, degrading her ministry, 
setting aside her canons and discipline, con- 
demning the doctrinal decisions of her gene- 
ral councils, preaching down her most ancient 
traditions, and entirely disclaiming her autho- 
rity. Now, to support them in this enterprise 
against the whole visible church, founded by 
the miracles of Christ, and all her ordinary 
pastors, descending by succession from the 
apostles of Christ, they had so much the more 
need of miracles, as they had neither any pre- 
dictions of the prophets to recommend them, 
nor any extraordinary sanctity of life and con- 
versation to plead for them; and on the other 
hand, they had against them the authority of 
the whole visible church, so strongly estab- 
lished by innumerable texts of scripture that 
if there be any thing evident in scripture, this 
their enterprise against the church was evi- 
dently unwarrantable, not to say impious and 
sacrilegious. 

And as for their appealing, as some of them 
have done, to the miracles of Christ, to jus- 
tify their proceedings against the church, no- 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



103 



thing could be more absurd ; since it must be 
evident to every thinking man, that his mira- 
cles bear testimony, indeed, to the society es- 
tablished by him and his apostles, but not to 
any new raised communion, cut off from the 
original succession; and that in the dispute 
between the old church and modern sectaries, 
concerning the meaning and interpretation of 
the scriptures, which is the main subject of 
all our contests, not one of the miracles of 
Christ can, with any show of probability, be 
alleged against that interpretation of God's 
word, which the church gives; but rather all 
of them in favour of her, to whose teachers 
that same w^ord has evidently promised the 
Spirit of Truth, St. John xiv. 16 , 17 ; and 
the presence and assistance of Christ himself, 
till the end of the world. St. Matt, xxviii. 
19, 20. 

But the greatest part of modern sectaries 
being sensible that they can have no preten- 
sions to any extraordinary mission immediately 
from God himself, would willingly put in for 
some share in the ordinary vocation of God's 
ministers, derived through the channel of the 
church. But they are as little able to main- 



104 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



tain this claim as the other. For if they were 
not sent immediately from God himself, but 
by the ministry of men, who by succession 
had inherited this divine commission, it is in- 
cumbent on th^m to declare who those men 
were that imparted this commission to their 
first teachers. Who sent them to teach their 
Protestant doctrine ? Who authorized them to 
preach down and alter at pleasure, in spite of 
all the ordinary pastors, the doctrine, disci- 
pline, liturgy, traditions, ordinances and ob- 
servances of the whole visible church ? It is 
plain they did not receive this commission 
from the hands of others, more ancient secta- 
ries ; who neither had any such commission 
to impart, nor if they had, did any of the first 
reformers so much as pretend to be sent by 
them. And it is ridiculous to say they received 
this commission from the Catholic church, 
which never commissioned any to preach a 
doctrine anathematized by all her pastors ; nor 
could their receiving orders in the Catholic 
communion authorize them to commence teach- 
ers of another religion. Besides, if the system 
of these reformers be true, their orders, which 
they received in the Catholic church, were 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



105 



derived from antichrist, and given by heretics 
and idolators, who by their apostacy from the 
gospel had forfeited the apostolical commission 
for themselves, and consequently could not 
impart it to others. It follows, therefore, that 
these gentlemen have intruded themselves into 
the pastoral ministry without being sent by 
any one but by him that sent all the false pro- 
phets from the beginning. For, as for a mis- 
sion from the laity, which some of them have 
pretended to, these have none themselves, and 
therefore could impart none. 

Here, perhaps, some may appeal to the 
Albegeois, the Vaudois, Wickliff, Huss, &c., 
and pretend to an apostolical succession 
through this channel, but in vain. First, be- 
cause none of all these had any branch of 
apostolical succession themselves, and were 
as much put to it as modern sectaries are to tell 
who sent them. 2d]y, because all these, in 
many substantial articles, differed from modern 
Protestants ; as Monsieur Bossuet, Bishop of 
Meaux, has demonstrated in his 11th Book 
of the History of the Variations of the Pro- 
testant Churches. 3dly, because, if we were 
even to suppose that any of these had a suc- 
10 



106 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



cession from the apostles, it is visible that 
modern sectaries had no succession from 
them, since they do not so much as pretend 
to have derived their orders or mission from 
any bishops of the Albegeois, Vaudois, Wick- 
liff or Hussites ; and it maybe questioned if 
any of these sectaries ever had any such thing 
as true bishops. 

From all that has been said, it is evident 
that modern sectaries have no share in any 
branch of apostolical succession ; since neither 
their church nor their doctrine, their orders 
nor their mission, are derived from the apos- 
tles of Christ. It is plain that the Catholic 
church had no other beginning but from the 
apostles of Christ ; and that the present church 
in communion with Rome, visibly descends 
from that first society established by Christ 
and the apostles without any breach or inter- 
ruption. 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



107 



CHAPTER X. 

CATHOLIC RULE OF FAITH AND JUDGE OF CON- 
TROVERSIES. 

The Catholic rule of faith is the word of 
God, written or unwritten, as proposed and 
interpreted by the church of God ; and the 
Catholic judge of controversies is the church 
of God. Now, of all the w^ays that can be 
proposed for the coming at the truth in mat- 
ters controverted among Christians, this Catho- 
lic way of following the church's interpreta- 
tion of God's word, and adhering to her 
doctrine and decisions in all disputes, is evi- 
dently the safest, the most prudent, the most 
agreeable to Christian humility, and the best 
adapted for maintaining unity. 

All other ways, instead of affording any 
assurance of a Christian being in the right in 
his w^ay of thinking, with regard to religious 
controversies and the interpretation of scrip- 
ture, leave him under an absolute uncertainty. 
Thus, for instance, private judgment alone 
can give no certainty or security in these cases, 
which being controverted matters, are disputed 



108 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



between learned men on both sides ; and no- 
thing but self-conceit can make any one man 
depend so much upon his own private judg- 
ment, as to pretend to a certainty and evidence 
which so many others, every way as w^ell 
qualified as himself, cannot see. For what 
helps has he for understanding scriptures and 
deciding controversies which others of a con- 
trary persuasion have not? or what greater 
security has he than they against the influence 
of education, ^nd all the subtleties and de- 
ceits of self-love ? 

The private spirit, which some pretend to, 
can afford no greater assurance. For what 
certainty can they have (especially when they 
oppose the church of God) that this spirit 
w^hich moves them is the Spirit of God, and 
not their own imagination, or the spirit of 
darkness, transforming himself into an angel 
of light ? Nor must they conclude themselves 
to be secure against the illusions either of their 
own imagination or of a diabolical spirit, be- 
cause they flatter themselves that their lives 
are regular, and that this spirit by which they 
are actuated moves them not to anything that 
to them appears evil ; for as to the regularity 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 109 

of their lives, there are many others every- 
way as regular as themselves, and no less pre- 
tending to the Spirit, who have quite a differ- 
ent way of thinking, and consequently one or 
the other, notwithstanding the regularity of 
their lives, is certainly led by a false spirit, 
since they condemn one another. And as for 
their alleging that their spirit moves them to 
nothing that is evil, they do not consider that 
it is the greatest of all evils to be filled with 
proud conceit of themselves; to withdraw 
themselves from the authority of church guides 
established by Christ, and from the beaten 
road of the saints, and to go astray into the 
by-paths of singularity and error; and that 
by these evil fruits they ought to judge that 
their spirit must be an evil one : that of Ko- 
rah, Dathan, and Abiram was an evil spirit, 
because it was a spirit of pride and disobe- 
dience ; and as the spirit of the false prophets 
and false apostles, who have been from the 
beginning, is demonstrated to have been an 
evil spirit, by its disagreeing with the spirit 
and doctrine of the true church, guides of di- 
vine appointment. By which rule w^e are com- 
manded to try the spirits. 1 St. John iv. 6. 
10* 



110 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



He that knoweth God, heareth us, (the pastors 
of the church :) he that is not of God, hear- 
eth not us; by this we know the Spirit of 
Truth and the spirit of error. 

And as neither private judgment nor the 
private spirit can afford any certainty in con- 
troversies of religion, or any security in op- 
posing the public authority and decision of 
the church, so neither can any lesser autho- 
rity, as that of any particular minister, doctor 
or bishop, or of any particular congregation, 
or even of a national church, be of any 
weight, when put in scales, against the greater 
authority of a general council, or of the whole 
church. Because the greater authority must 
needs weigh down the less. And whatever 
may be alleged in favour of the less, as to 
piety, learning, study of the scripture, &c., 
will be found with advantage in the greater. 
So that, as it would be rashness, pride, and 
self-conceit in any one to prefer his own pri- 
vate judgment and interpretation of scripture 
to that of the whole church, so it would be 
the height of imprudence to prefer the lesser 
authority of any private teacher, congregation 
or nation to the far greater authority of the 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



Ill 



Catholic church, and the interpretation of the 
scripture which she delivers. 

From whence it follows, that the way 
w^hich Catholics take in all matters of contro- 
versy, and in all disputes concerning the inter- 
pretation of scripture, viz : to stand by the 
decision of the great body of church guides, 
descending from the apostles, is evidently the 
safest and most prudent. The same is visibly 
the most agreeable to Christian humility, and 
that submission which the word of God re- 
quires from the faithful to their prelates and 
pastors, Heb. xiii. 7, 17, and to casting 
down imaginations, and to bringing into cap- 
tivity every understanding to the obedience of 
Christ, of which the apostle speaks, 2 Cor. x. 
4, 5. And that this is the only way by which 
church unity can be maintained both reason 
and daily experience clearly demonstrate. 
Besides which considerations, I shall offer the 
following arguments in favour of the Catholic 
system. 

1. The Catholic church alone is duly quali- 
fied to be the interpreter of God's wwd; be- 
cause as she, and no other church, has always 
subsisted from Christ ^to this day, so it was 



112 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINET 



she and no other that first received the scrip- 
tures from the apostles of Christ, and saw 
them from the beginning truly interpreted by 
the preaching and by the lives of those first 
planters of the gospel, and by the practice of 
primitive Christians ; and has been from that 
time to this, in a constant and uninterrupted 
possession of those divine truths thus ex- 
pounded and delivered, which is what no 
other society of men can pretend to. There- 
fore as it is plain that no one could be better 
qualified than the church of the first Chris- 
tians, (which had received the interpretation 
of the scriptures from the apostles,) to teach 
the succeeding generation the true sense and 
meaning of the scriptures, so it is equally plain 
no one could be better qualified than the church 
of the succeeding generation to teach their 
immediate followers and successors ; and so 
from father to son to this day. And thus it is 
easily understood how a church that has sub- 
sisted in all ages, and which originally receiv- 
ed both the scriptures and the interpretation 
of them from the apostles, should be to this 
day the best qualified for delivering the true 
meaning of them to her children. But the 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



113 



same cannot be said of any church or congre- 
gation which has no claim to any such unin- 
terrupted possession of the divine scriptures, 
and which loudly professes that the interpre- 
tation which she gives of them was lost for 
many hundred years. \ 

2. The Catholic or universal church is not 
only the best qualified to interpret the word 
of God, because she alone has originally 
received the interpretation of it from the 
apostles ; but also much more, because she 
alone has a claim to the Spirit of Truth pro- 
mised to abide with her pastors for ever, St. 
John xiv. 16, 17 ; to teach them all things, v. 
26, and to guide them into all truth, chap. xvi. 
13. She is the pillar and ground of truth, 1 
Tim. iii. 15. She is built upon a rock, and 
the gates of hell shall not prevail against her, 
St. Matt. xvi. 18. To her pastors teaching 
all nations Christ has promised his presence 
and assistance, always even till the end of the 
world, St. Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. To these 
he has promised that his spirit shall never be 
taken from them ; and that his words (the 
pure profession of all his divine truths) shall 
never depart from their mouth, Isai. lix. 20, 



114 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



21. He that heareth not these is to be 
looked upon as a heathen and a publican, St. 
Matt, xviii. 17. These are given by Christ, 
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of 
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of 
Christ, &c. that we may not be like children 
tossed to and fro, and carried about with 
every wind of doctrine, but speaking the truth 
in love, may grow up into him in all things, 
who is the head, even Christ, Ephes. iv. 11, 
12, &c. Therefore the church, in her pastors, 
is by divine commission the guardian of all 
heavenly truths, the authentic interpreter of 
the scripture, and the living judge of all reli- 
gious controveries. 

3. The Catholic way of having all religious 
controversies decided without appeal by the 
tribunal of the pastors of the church, was cer- 
tainly the method appointed by God in the 
old law, Deut. xvii. 8, 9, &c. approved by 
Christ our Lord, St. Matt, xxiii. 2 and 3, 
practised by the apostles. Acts xv. and ever 
followed by the church of God from the be- 
ginning : which has in every age condemned 
sectaries by the scriptures as she understood 
them, and never allowed them to appeal from 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



her sentence to the dead letter of the Bible^ 
or their own interpretation of it. 

4. Modern sectaries receive the scriptures 
themselves upon the testimony of the Catholic 
I church. Why do they not receive the inter- 
pretation of them from the same hand from 
^ which they received the books ? They receive 
I the epistle to the Hebrews, the Revelations, 
I and some other parts of the scripture formerly 
controverted, upon the decision of the church : 
why do they not equally stand to her judg- 
ment in other religious controversies ? If she 
was infallible in deciding that those books 
are scripture, why not in other matters relating 
to faith ? If she was not infallible in deciding 
that those books are scripture, how came they 
to receive them for the infallible word of God ? 



116 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, 



CHAPTER XI. 

SALVATION ONLY IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

The true church of Christ is the fold of 
Christj whichj as we learn from John x. 16, 
can be but one, and all his sheep must be 
brought to this fold, that so there may be one 
fold and one shepherd. Ibid. Therefore they 
that die out of the church of Christ, are not 
his sheep. 

The true church of Christ is the kingdom 
of Christ, in which he lives and reigns for 
ever. Dan. ii. 44; Luke i. 33. She is the 
city of the living Godj the spiritual Sion which 
the Lord hath chosen for his habitation for 
ever. Ps. cxxxii. 14, 15. She is the true 
temple of the Most High, prefigured by the 
tabernacle of the testimony and the temple of 
Jerusalem, in which alone the children of Is- 
rael were to offer their sacrifices, Deut. xii. 5, 
11, 13, 14, to signify that in the church alone 
prayer or sacrifice should be accepted. She 
is the house of God, 1 Tim. iii. 15, built by 
the wisest of all architects, upon the strongest 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



117 



of all rocks, proof against all floods and 
storms. Matt. vii. 24, 25; xvi. 18. That one 
house in which alone the lamb was to be 
eaten, Exod. xii. 46, out of which no part of 
the flesh was to be carried. Ibid. So that 
they who belong not to this house have no 
share in the flesh of the Lamb, which they 
cannot eat but to their own condemnation. 
Can they belong to Christ who are no part of 
his kingdom ; who are not in his city ; who 
have no place in his temple ; who are stran- 
gers to his house ? And is not this the unhappy 
case of all those who are out of the true 
church, which alone, according to the scrip- 
ture, is the kingdom, the city, the temple and 
the house of Christ ? 

The true church of Christ is the only 
spouse of Christ, joined to him by an indis- 
soluble union of which Christian matrimony 
is a mysterious representation. Eph. iv. 31, 
32. They cannot, therefore, have Christ for 
their father who have not the church for their 
mother. 

The true church of Christ is the body, of 
which he is the head. Col. i. 18 ; Eph. v. 23. 
Of which he is the Saviour. Ibid. Therefore 
11 



118 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



they who are not in the true church of Christ, 
are not part of his mystical body, and conse- 
quently have no share in his Spirit, which is 
not to be found out of his body. Now, if 
any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is 
none of his. Rom. viii. 9. 

The true church of Christ is the camp of 
the saints, the beloved city. Rev. xx. 9. Christ 
walks in the midst of her candlesticks, and 
holds her stars (that is, her prelates. Rev. i. 
20,) in his right hand. Rev. ii. 1. She is the 
garden enclosed, the fountain sealed. Song of 
Solomon, iv. 12. She is a chosen genera- 
tion, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a 
peculiar people, even the people of God. 1 
Pet. ii. 9, 10. Those who have no share in 
Christ's church, have no part in all this hap- 
piness. 

To the children of the true church of Christ 
St. Paul cries out, Heb. xii. 22, 23, 24, You 
are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city 
of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 
and to innumerable company of angels, to the 
general assembly and church of the first born 
which are written in heaven, and to God the 
judge of all, and to the spirits of just men 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



119 



made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of 
the new covenant, and to the blood of sprink- 
ling, that speaketh better things than that of 
Abel. This is that communion of saints which 
is joined in the creed to the holy Catholic 
church ; the benefit of which communion is 
forfeited by all those that renounce the fellow- 
ship of the true church of Christ. To forsake 
her is to forsake Christ, who has promised to 
be always with her. Matt, xxviii. 20. It is 
to forsake the Holy Ghost, her invisible di- 
rector. Is. lix. 21; John xiv. 16, 26 ; xvi. 13. 
Out of her no remission of sins, nor happy 
resurrection, both the one and the other are 
annexed in the creed itself to the true church. 
Out of her no power of the keys for forgiving 
or retaining of sins, which was given only to 
her pastors. Matt. xvi. 19 ; xviii. 18 ; John 
XX. 23. She is the ark built by divine ap- 
pointment against the waters of the deluge, 
out of which whosoever is found will perish 
in the flood. 

To stand separate from the faith of the true 
church, is the crime of heresy of which St. 
Paul says. Gal. v. 20, 21, they who do such 
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 



120 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 

To be voluntarily separated from the commu- | 
nion of the church, is the crime of schism, j 
allowed by all to be a damnable sin, and I 
which, as the holy fathers unanimously de- | 
clare, cannot even be expiated with shedding 1 
one's blood for Christ. To oppose the autho- 
rity of the true church, and her governors 
established by Christ, is a heinous crime of 
spiritual rebellion ; the very crime for which, 
by a dreadful judgment, Korah, Dathan and 
Abiram w^ere swallowed up alive by the earth. 
Num. xvi. To be obstinately disobedient to the 
church guides is to despise Christ. Luke x. 
16. It is in vain, therefore, for those who re- 
main voluntarily out of the true church, to 
pretend to be innocent. They may be so with 
regard to murder, adultery, theft, and the like. 
But not with regard to the crimes of heresy 
and schism. 

There is no salvation without faith in Christ. 
This is taught so clearly, and in so many 
places in the New Testament, that a person 
must in effect renounce Christianity, who pre- 
sumes to question the truth of it. Mark xvi. 
16. He that believeth not shall be damned. 
John iii. 14, 15. As Moses lifted up the ser- 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



121 



pent in the wilderness, even so must the Son 
of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth 
not is already condemned, because he hath 
not believed in the name of the only begotten 
Son of God. John viii. 24. If ye believe not 
that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. John 
xvii. 3. This is life eternal, that they might 
know thee the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ, whom thou hast sent. Acts iv. 12. 
Neither is there salvation in any other; for 
there is no other name under heaven given to 
men w^hereby w^e must be saved. Heb. x. 6. 
Without faith it is impossible to please God. 
John iii. 36. He that believeth not the Son, 
shall not see life, but the w-rath of God abideth 
on him. 

But %vhat need of quoting so many single 
texts for proving a truth which St. Paul him- 
self has proved at large in tw^o \vhole epis- 
tles, viz : that to the Romans and that to the 
Galatians, where the apostle makes it the 
main business to show, 1. That both Jews 
and Gentiles, antecedently to faith in Christ, 
are all under sin. Rom. iii. 9 ; Gal. iii. 22. 
2. That they cannot be justified either by the 
works of the law of nature, or the law" of 
11* 



122 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



Moses. Rom. iv., &c. ; Gal. iii. &c, 3. That 
the justice of God is by faith of Jesus Christ, 
unto all, and upon all them that believe, for 
there is no difference, all have sinned — being 
justified freelj^ by his grace through the re- 
demption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God 
hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith 
in his blood. Rom. iii. 22, &c. 

Therefore moral honesty alone is not suffi- 
cient for any man's salvation. This, indeed, 
may be found amongst Heathens, Mahomet- 
ans and Jev^s ; but this is, at the most, but 
only one branch of our duty. Our chief ob- 
ligation is that which regards the worship of 
God, and the theological virtues of faith, hope 
and love of God above all things, which few 
Christians think enough of, and to which those 
that know not Christ never pretend to aspire. 
And truly, if moral honesty alone were enough 
for any man's justification and salvation, then, 
as St. Paul argues, Gal. ii. 21, Christ is dead 
in vain ; since, independently of his death, 
men might, through the law of nature or of 
Moses, attain to moral honesty, and thereby 
to justification and salvation. 

It w^as then with very good reason that our 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



123 



English Protestants in the 18th of the Thirty- 
nine Articles^ to which all their clergy are 
obhged to subscribe, have declared that those 
are to be accursed who presume to say that 
every man shall be saved by the law or sect 
which he professeth, so that he be diligent to 
frame his life according to that law and the 
light of nature ; for the holy scripture doth 
set out unto us only the name of Jesus Christ, 
w^hereby men must be saved. It was with 
very good reason that Luther, in his lesser 
confession, (apud Hospinian, p. 2, b. 187,) 
declaimed most zealously against Zuinglius, 
so far as even to declare that he despaired of 
his salvation, because he had given a place 
among the blessed souls to impious pagans. 

For what signifies our baptism, says he, or 
the other sacraments ; what does the scripture 
or Jesus Christ himself avail us, if impious 
men, if idolators and epicureans are saints?" 
So far Luther. 

In order to salvation, we must either in 
effect be members of the true church of Christ, 
or at least in the unfeigned disposition of the 
heart's desire, and seek to be so. 

This is proved from Matt, xviii. 17 ; if he 



124 CATHOLIC DOCTUXNE. 



neglect to hear the church, let him be to thee 
as a heathen and a publican. Luke xiii. 16. 
He that heareth you (the pastors of the true 
church) heareth me; and he that despiseth 
you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, de- 
spiseth him that sent me. Now how can he be 
in a state of salvation, who despiseth Christ 
and his Father? 

Heb. xi. 6. Without faith it is impossible 
to please God. And Mark xvi. 16. He that 
believeth not, shall be damned. So that true 
faith is necessary to salvation. Now true 
faith, in order to please God and save our 
souls, must be entire, and must believe with- 
out exception, all such articles as are duly 
proposed to be believed ; and he that volun- 
tarily and obstinately disbelieveth any one of 
these articles, is no less void of true saving 
faith, than he that disbelieves them all. As 
St. James tells us, in regard to practical duties, 
chap. ii. 10. Whosoever shall keep the whole 
law, yet offend in one point, he is guilty of 
all. 

3. Gal. V. 20. Where St. Paul reckons ,^ 
heresies, or sects, among the works of the j( 
flesh, of which he tells us, v. 21, They 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 125 



which do such things shall not inherit the 
kingdom of God. 

4. Because, in the old law, an obstinate 
refusal of obedience to the ministers of the 
synagogue in legal controversies, was a crime 
to be punished with death. Deut. xvii. 12, 
13. The man that will do presumptuously 
and will not hearken to the priest, (that 
standeth to minister there before the Lord thy 
God,) or unto the judge, even that man shall 
die : and thou shalt put away the evil from 
Israel. And all the people shall hear and fear, 
and do no more presumptuously. Can it be a 
less crime to refuse to hear the church of Christ.^ 

5. Because w^e read, Acts ii. 47, that the 
Lord added daily to the church such as 
should be saved. Nor does the scripture point 
out to us any other way of salvation. 

6. Because of the church it is written, Is. 
liv. 15, Whosoever shall gather together 
against thee shall fall for thy sake. V. 17, 
Every tongue that shall rise against thee in 
judgment, thou shalt condemn. And Is. Ix. 
12, The nation and kingdom that will not 
serve thee, shall perish. 

The same appears from the manner in 



126 CATHOLIC DOCTKINE. 



which dissenters from the church of Christ are 
treated in the New Testament. Rom. xvi. 17, 
18 I beseech you, brethren, mark them 
which cause divisions and oSences, contrary 
to the doctrine which ye have learned, and 
avoid them, for they that are such serve not 
our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly ; 
and by good words and fair speeches deceive 
the hearts of the simple. Gal. i. 8, 9 : — Though 
we, or an angel from heaven, preach any 
other gospel unto you, than that which we 
have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 
As we said before, so say I now again, if any 
man preach any other gospel unto you, than 
that ye have received, let him be accursed. 
Titus iii. 10, 11 : — A man that is a heretic, 
after the first and second admonition, reject, 
knowing that he that is such, is subverted, 
and sinneth, being condemned of himself. 2 
Peter ii. 1, 2 : — There will be lying masters, 
who cunningly will introduce damnable here- 
sies, and bring upon themselves swift perdi- 
tion, and- many will follow their pernicious 
ways. Hence St. Jude, v. 13, calls heretics, 
raging waves of the sea, foaming out their 
own shame, to whom is reserved the black= 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE* 127 



ness of darkness for ever. And St. John calls 
them Antichrists, that is, adversaries and ene- 
mies of Christ, 1 John ii. 18. Antiquity always 
looked upon heretics and schismatics as per- 
sons out of the way of salvation. 

In every age, since the apostles' time, 
Christendom has been divided by many differ- 
ent sects ; of which some have had great 
numbers of followers, so as to be for a while the 
prevailing religion in some nations, as the Mon- 
tanists in Phrygia, (who called themselves the 
churches of Phrygia, Tertul. L. contra Phrax,) 
the Donatists in Africa, the Arians in several 
parts of the East, during the times of the em- 
perors Constantius and Valens, and afterwards 
amongst the Goths, Vandals, &c. Some of 
which sects never called into question any of 
those articles of the Christian doctrine, W'hich 
Protestants call fundamentals ; as neither the 
MontanistSj nor the Donatists did, to whom 
we may join the Novatians, the Quartode- 
cimans, the ApoUinarists, &c. ; all which, not- 
withstanding, the Holy Fathers unanimously 
agree in denying the followers of these sects 
to be any part of Christ's church on earth, or 



128 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



to have any share of his church in heaven ; 
witness, 

1. St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, and 
Martyr, disciple of the apostles, in his genuine 
epistle to the Philippians ; where he declares, 
that whosoever follows those that make a sepa- 
ration, or a separate communion, shall not 
inherit the kingdom of God. Could this be 
said, if separated communions might still be 
parts of the true church of Christ ? 

2. St. Irenseus, bishop, and Martyr, in his 
first book against heresies, chap. iii. where 
he says, that the church, having received this 
preaching and this faith, (he speaks of the 
pure and orthodox preaching and faith received 
from the apostles,) though she be spread 
through the whole world, keeps it with great 
care, as dwelling in one house ; and believes 
alike these things, as having but one soul: 
and one and the same heart : And with one 
voice preaches, teaches, and delivers these 
things, as having but one mouth. Behold 
here the w^hole church of God described by 
this primitive father, as dwelling in one house, 
having but one heart, one soul, and one 
mouth. Could he have expressed in stronger 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 129 



terms, the church's being but in one com- 
munion, and having but one faith, and one 
doctrine ? And if you would know what he 
thought of those who were divided from the 
faith and communion of this one church, 
hearken to what he says, L. 3, c. 4. She (the 
church) is the gate of life, but all the rest, that 
is all other sects separated from her com- 
munion, are thieves and robbers, and there- 
fore to be avoided. 

3. St. Clement of Alexandria, L.7, Strom, p. 
764, 765. ^« From what has been said (against 
all heretics) I take it," says he, to be mani- 
fest, that there is but one true church, the 
same which is ancient indeed : into which the 
just, according to God's purpose, are enrolled. 
For, as there is but one God, and one Lord, 
so whatsoever is highly venerable, has its 
praise from being an imitation of that first 
principle, which is but one. The church 
therefore is made partaker of the nature of 
unity, being but one, which heresies strive to 
divide into many. We do therefore affirm, 
that the ancient and Catholic church is but one, 
in her substance, in her idea or proper notion, 
in her origin, and in her excellence. But as 
12 



130 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



for heresies, some are called from the proper 
names of men, as those which have their deno- 
mination from Valentine and Marcion, Basi- 
lides- — others from some nation, as the heresy 
of the Phrygians (the Montanists) ; others 
from their actions, as the Encratites; others 
from their peculiar doctrine, as the Docites, 
&c.," where he plainly supposes all these, 
and all other sects, w^hich are known by their 
several denominations, distinct from that of 
Christian and Catholic, to be no part of that one 
church of which he had been speaking, and 
which, he says, is no other than the old church. 

4. St. Cyprian maintains the same doctrine 
at large in his whole book of the Unity of the 
Church. Let the reader in particular remark 
these w^ords. There is but one God, and 
one Christ, and one church, and one faith, 
and a people joined into one solid body with 
the glue of concord. This unity cannot suffer 
division ; nor this one body bear to be dis- 
jointed and torn to pieces." He adds, that 
to leave this original unity, is to forfeit life, 
and renounce salvation." And in his 76th 
Epistle to Magnus, he says, " the church is 
one, W'hich being but one, cannot both be 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



131 



within doors and without. If the church be 
with Novatian, she could not be in the com- 
munion of Cornelius ; but if she was in 
Cornelius' communion, Novatian (who is 
separated from that communion) is not in the 
church ; for, that the church cannot be with- 
out doors, nor suffer a breach or division of 
communion ; but always keeps the unity of an 
inseparable and individual house, the faith of 
the divine scripture demonstrates," &c. Can 
this doctrine be reconciled with that scheme 
which makes the church a compound of many 
different sects and communions ? 

5. St. Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, 
predecessor to St. Athanasius, in his epistle to 
Alexander, bishop of Constantinople, recorded 
by Theodoret, L. 1, Hist. c. 4. We con- 
fess one, and only one Catholic, apostolic 
church, never to be beat down, though the 
whole world should war against her, and 
always victorious against the most impious 
enterprises of heretics." Could this be said 
of a church, which is compounded of catholics 
and heretics ? 

6. Lactantius, in his fourth book of Divine 
Institutions, p. 231, 232, Cantab. Anno 1685. 



132 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



^' Because many heresies have risen, and by 
the instigation of evil spirits, God's people 
have been divided into diverse sects ; we must 
declare, in few words, where the truth is to 
be found, and point out the place where she 
dwells ; to the end that if any one desires the 
water of life, he may not go to seek it in 
broken cisterns which have no spring, but 
being acquainted with the plenteous fountain 
of God's truth, he may there find an ever- 
lasting source of light. When certain societies 
are called by the name of Phrygians, Nova- 
tians, Valentinians, Marcionites, Anthrapians, 
or Arians, or any such like denominations, 
know that these have ceased to be Christians ; 
since, leaving the name of Christ, they have 
adopted foreign names. It is then the Catholic 
church alone which retains the true worship. 
— She is the fountain of truth, the house of 
faith, the temple of God, into which whoso- 
ever shall not enter, or out of which whoso- 
ever shall depart, can have no hope of 
everlasting life and salvation. No man must 
here flatter himself by an obstinate contention ; 
for nothing less than life and salvation is at 
stake." So far this Christian orator, who 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



133 



flourished in the time of Dioclesian and Con- 
stantine the Great ; and who in these words 
visibly excludes from any part in the church, 
all sects commonly known by their peculiar 
denominations, and amongst these the Nova- 
tians by name, whose capital error consisted 
in taking away confession and penance, an 
error which Protestants will not allow to be 
fundamental. Hence, immediately after the 
words above quoted, he gives this rule for 
knowing the true church. — The true church 
is that, in which is confession and penance. 

7. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. 18, Illu- 
min., explaining those words of the creed, the 
one Holy Catholic Church, in such a manner 
as to exclude all sectaries. See also St. Hilary, 
in his seventh book of the Trinity, No. 4, 
declaring, that there is but one church founded 
by God, established by the apostles, from 
which all erring sects are cut off. 

8. St. Pacian, in his first epistle to Sem- 
pronian, the Novatian, plainly excludes all 
sectaries, and amongst the rest, by name, the 
Montanists, Novatians, and Apollinarists, from 
any part in the church, which he calls the 
spotless Virgin, &c. He adds, Christian is 

12* 



134 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



my name. Catholic is my surname. By this 
name of Catholic, our society is distinguished 
from all heresies. 

9. St. Cyprian, Ep. 62, (in the Oxford edi- 
tion, Ep. 4, p. 175.) The house of God is 
but one, and no one can have salvation but 
in the church." And in his book of the 
Unity of the Church, p. 109, &c. He can- 
not have God for his father, who has not the 
church for his mother. If any one could 
escape, who was out of the ark of Noah, then 
he who is out of the church may also escape. 
This.'Main is not even washed off with man's 
blood. Such a one may be put to death for 
religion, but he cannot be crowned." 

10. St. John Chrysostom, Hom. I. in 
Pascha. We know that salvation belongs 
to the church alone, and that no one can par- 
take of Christ, nor be saved, out of the Catho- 
lic church, and Catholic faith." 

11. St. Augustine, Ep. 209, to Felicia: 
^'In the Catholic church there are both good 
and bad. But those that are separated from 
her, as long as their opinions are opposite to 
hers, cannot be good. For though the con- 
versation of some of them appears commend- 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



135 



able, yet their very separation from the church, 
makes them bad, according to that of our 
Saviour, Luke, xi. 23. «^ He who is not with 
me is against me, and he who gathers not 
wath me, scatters." 

12. St. Fulgentius, in his first book of 
Remission of Sins, c. 22. As in Jericho, 
no one could save his life, who was not in the 
house of Rahab ; so out of the Catholic church, 
no one shall obtain pardon of his sins." And 
in his book of Faith, c. 37, Hold most 
firmly and without any doubt, that no one, 
who is baptized out of the Catholic church, 
can partake of eternal life, if before the end 
of this life he be not restored to the Catholic 
church, and incorporated therein." 

Pro. 16, 25. «^ There is away that seemeth 
right unto man, but the end thereof are the 
ways of death." Matt. xv. 14. If the 
blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the 
ditch." John xvi. 2. ^« The time cometh, 
that whosoever killeth you will think that he 
doth God service." And will this erroneous 
conscience excuse such persecutor ? No cer- 
tainly ; no more than the Jews that crucified 
Christ, of whom St. Peter says, Acts iii. 17, 



136 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



<^ I know that through ignorance you did it, 
as did also your rulers." 2 Cor. iv. 3^ 4. If 
our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are 
lost, in whom the God of this world hath 
blinded the minds of them that believe not." 
St. Jerome, in his 57th Epistle to Pope Dama- 
sus, says: ^'I am joined in communion with 
your holiness, that is, with the chair of Peter, 
upon that rock I know the church is built. 
Whoever eats the lamb out of this house, is 
profane ; whoever is not in this ark, shall 
perish by the waters of the deluge," &c. Now 
could this be said, if the church of Christ 
might be in more than one communion ? The 
same St. Jerome, in the end of his dialogue 
against the Lucifrian schismatics, delivers him- 
self thus. To tell you briefly and plainly the 
sentiments of my soul, we must live and die 
in that church, which, having been founded 
by the apostles subsists to this day. But if in 
any place you hear some that are called 
Christians, taking a name, not from our Lord 
Jesus Christ, but some other, as Marcionites, 
Valentinians, Mountaineers, or Field Conven- 
ticles, (Montenses Campenses,) know that 
such are no church of Christ, but a synagogue 
of antichrist. Nor let them flatter themselves, 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



137 



that they quote the scriptures for their tenets, 
since the devil also quoted scripture, which 
consists not in the reading, but in the right 
understanding. 

St. Augustine, in his book on the Unity of 
the Church, c. 4, lays down this general rule, 
agreeable to the notions of all antiquity. Who- 
soever, says he, believe the incarnation, pas- 
sion, resurrection and divinity of Jesus Christ, 
&c., yet dissent from his body, which is the 
church, in such a manner that their communion 
is not with the whole, wheresoever it is spread, 
but found only in some part separate from the 
whole, it is evident that such are not in the 
Catholic church. And in his 48th Epistle to 
Vincentius, making the application of this rule 
to the Donatists : you are with us, says he, in 
baptism, in the creed, in the rest of the sacra- 
ments of our Lord, but in the spirit of unity, 
and in the bond of peace, in short, in the 
Catholic church you are not with us. Hence 
the Council of Nice, in the 8th Canon, evi- 
dently supposes the Novatians to have been 
no part of the Catholic church. xA.ll, there- 
fore, excommunicated persons, (as Protestants 
are,) have no part in the church of Christ if 
he has power to excommunicate. 



138 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



CHAPTER XII. 

HOLY ORDERS. 

St. Paul, speaking to the bishops of the 
church, says, Take heed to yourselves and 
to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Ghost 
hath placed you bishops, to rule the church of 
God," Acts XX. 28. The same apostle, writ- 
ing to Timothy, whom he had appointed 
bishop of Ephesus, 1 Tim. i. 3, says, <^ against 
a priest receive not an accusation, but under 
two or three witnesses," 1 Tim. v. 19 ; St. 
Timothy had authority and jurisdiction over 
the priests in receiving accusations against 
them, and consequently in judging and cor- 
recting them. In like manner, in writing to 
Titus, he says, for this cause I left thee in 
Crete, that thou shouldst set in order the 
things that are wanting, and shouldst ordain 
priests in every city, as I also appointed thee," 
Tit. i. 5. From the earliest ages, whenever 
a bishop was consecrated, a certain portion 
of the faithful was assigned to him for his 
particular charge as their pastor ; and the 
place where this charge was given him was 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



139 



called his Diocese ; thus, Titus was ordained 
by St. Paul to be bishop of Crete, and Timo- 
thy to be bishop of Ephesus. In these dio- 
ceses they exercised the full pastoral authority, 
both in preaching the word and administering 
the sacraments, and making such laws and 
regulations as they judged proper for the 
good of their people, the priests were always 
considered their helpers, subject to their laws, 
and who had no authority even to administer- 
the sacraments, but only by receiving faculties 
from them ; and these faculties the bishops 
could give in what measure and proportion 
they judged fitting, or refuse them entirely, if 
they saw cause ; and this has been the con- 
stant practice of the church to this day. To 
the bishops alone, it belongs to meet in coun- 
cil, and make such laws and constitutions for 
the good and regulation, both of the whole 
church, when the council was general, for 
particular portions of the church, when the 
council was not general, as they judged ne- 
cessary for the good of religion. To the 
bishops it belongs to meet in general councils, 
and there, as the only judges of doctrine, to 
declare and decide concerning the truth of our 



140 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



holy faith, and to condemn all false and heret- 
ical tenets. 

The holy fathers, from the earliest ages, 
speak in the strongest terms on the obedience 
and respect which all owe to the episcopal 
authority. Thus, St. Ignatius, the martyr, 
disciple of the apostles and successor of St. 
Peter in the see of Antioch, says, «^ Reverence 
your bishop as Christ himself, as the blessed 
apostles have commanded us — for who is the 
bishop, but he who has all power and princi- 
pality over all? Epist. ad Tral. ^^It becomes 
you to obey your bishop, and in nothing to 
resist him — for, as our Lord does nothing 
without his Father, so neither ought you with- 
out your bishop, w^hether you be priest, dea- 
con or laic," Epis. ad Magnes. St. Cyprian 
says, that heresies and schisms rise from no 
other cause but disobedience to the chief pas- 
tors, Epist. 55. Tertullian writes thus : ^« the 
bishop, indeed, has the right to give baptism, 
and next the priests and deacons, but not 
without the authority of the bishop. Lib. de 
Bapt. c. 17. 

Jesus Christ ordained the apostles giving 
them authority to perform all their sacred 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



141 



functions, and these apostles ordained the seven 
deacons ; the scripture says, that, praying, 
they imposed hands upon them," Acts vi. 6. 
« And when Saul and Barnabas were sent to the 
ministry by a special command of the Holy 
Ghost, they, fasting, and praying, and laying 
their hands upon them, sent them away," 
Acts xiii. 3. From these express declarations 
of the apostle to Timothy, Neglect not the 
grace that is in thee, which was given thee by 
prophecy, by the imposition of the hands of 
the priesthood;" 1 Tim. iv. 14. ^^I ad- 
monish thee that thou stir up the grace of God 
which is in thee, by the imposition of my 
hands," 2 Tim. i. 6. And exhorted him to 
be cautious whom he admits to this sacrament, 
he says, " Impose not hands lightly upon any 
man," 1 Tim. v. 22. St. Paul says, " No 
man taketh that honour upon himself, but he 
that is called by God, as Aaron was," Heb. 
V. 4. 

Christ gave them power to preach the gos- 
pel, to teach all nations, and to baptize, before 
his ascension, as related, Matt. x. 18 ; Mark 
xvi. ; to consecrate the Holy Eucharist, and 
offer up the sacrifice of his body and blood, 
13 



142 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



when at the last supper he commanded them 
to do what he just had done, Luke xxii. 19, 
to forgive sins, when after his resurrection, 
«^he breathed on them, and said, Receive ye 
the Holy Ghost, whose sins you shall forgive 
they are forgiven," John xx. 22. And so of 
all the other sacred powers of the priesthood, 
which he communicated to his apostles in the 
most ample manner, and thereby made them 
priests and pastors of his people, and author- 
ized them as his own substitutes, to commu- 
nicate the same powers to others after them 
and carry on to the end of the world the great 
work he had begun for the salvation of souls ; 
for, as St. Paul observes, "every high priest 
taken from among men, is appointed for men 
in things that appertain to God, that he may 
offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins." Heb. 
V. i. "And how can they preach unless they 
be sent ?" Rom. x. 15 ; " For he that enter- 
eth not by the door into the sheepfold, but 
climbeth up another way, the same is a thief 
and a robber," saith Jesus Christ himself. 
John X. 1, 3. All those that intrude them- 
selves into the pastoral office of themselves, 
and pretend to teach and preach, and admin- 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 143 



ister any sacramentj without having received 
the proper power from Jesus Christ to do so, 
are only impostors and deluders of souls, 
blind leaders of the blind," who together 
with those that follow them, fall into the pit," 
Matt. XV. 14. St. Paul says, 1 Tim. iii. 1, 
" This is a faithful saying, if a man desire the 
office of a bishop, he desireth a good work." 
In Scotland the reformers displaced all those 
ministers who would not by oath renounce 
episcopa'cy. The Presbyterian ministers are 
laymen having no ordination from any bishop, 
and therefore have no authority to teach, 
preach, or administer any sacrament. Al- 
though the English protestants flatter them- 
selves that they at least have ordination from 
a Catholic bishop ; yet they are equally desti- 
tute of ordination, and proved to be so by the 
Catholic writers of those days, when facts 
were fresh in the minds of all Catholics. 



144 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE SINGLE LIFE OF PRIESTS.' 

St. Paul writes thus to the Corinthians : I 
would that all men were even as myself ; but 
every one has his proper gift of God ; one after 
this manner, and another after that : I say 
therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is 
good for them if they abide even as myself," 
1 Cor. vii. 7, 8. And again, He that is un- 
married careth for the things that belong to the 
Lord, how he may please the Lord ; but he 
that is married careth for things that are of this 
w^orld, how he may please his wife," 1 Cor. 
vii. 32, 33. Whence he concludes, y. 38, So 
then he that giveth his daughter in marriage, 
does well ; but he that giveth her not, does 
better." 

It was this induced the Catholic church, in 
ancient times, to lay a restraint from marriage 
of persons engaged in holy orders. And thus 
she was directed to it by the very example of 
the apostles, of whom St. Jerom writes thus ; 

The apostles (says he) either were virgins : 
or they who were married had no commerce 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



145 



with their wives." He goes on thus: Bishops, 
priests, and deacons are either chosen virgins, 
or widowers ; or at least abstain from their 
wives, after their ordination as long as they 
live." Epist. 50. St. Epiphanius writes in the 
following manner: " He that lives as a hus- 
band with his wife, though he never was twice 
married, is not admitted by the church to the 
order of deacon, priest, bishop, or even stfb- 
deacon. But only he, who either breaks off 
all commerce with his wife, or is deprived of 
her by death." Her. 59. 

What authentic witnesses are these of this 
ancient discipline of the church ! But though 
they had been silent, the canons themselves, 
and decrees of councils, held even before the 
great council of Nice, would suffice to pro- 
claim its antiquity. That of Elvira under the 
great Osius, Ann. 300, forbids churchmen the 
use of marriage under pain of being deposed, 
Can. 33. The council of Neocesarea, about 
the year 315, under Vitalis, bishop of Antioch, 
forbids priests to marry under the same penalty, 
Can. 1. 

In the fifth age, it is manifest from the coun- 
cil of Chalcedon, Can. 14, that in some pro- 
13* 



146 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



vinces, even those who had received the lesser 
orders as readers, were not allowed to marry. 
And I insist positively upon it, that there is no 
example in antiquity of any one bishop or 
priest, that ever was permitted by the church 
to marry, after he had received the order of 
priesthood. 

The same is to be said of all those, whether 
men or women, who had consecrated them- 
selves to God by solemn vows. In so much, 
that as many as returned to the world, or pre- 
tended to engage themselves in the bonds of 
wedlock after making such vows, were in all 
antiquity looked upon as apostates from the 
faith, and worse than adulterers. "I hesitate 
not to affirm, (says St. Augustine,) that the 
breach of a religious vow is worse than adul- 
tery." L. de bono Viduitatis, c. 11. And St. 
Chrysotom speaks the same language in his 
epistle to Theodorius, a fallen monk : marri- 
age," (says this father,) is a just and lawful 
thing, I grant it. Marriage is honourable in all, 
and the bed undefiled. But no, it is not a 
thing in your power ; for being once joined to 
your heavenly spouse, to leave him, and fall 
into the embraces of a wife, is adultery. Give 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



147 



it a thousand times if you please, the name of 
marriage, I say it is as much worse than adul- 
tery, as God is better and greater than woman- 
kind." Nay, St. Paul himself says of widows 
consecrated to God, that ^'when they have 
begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will 
marry, having damnation ; because they have 
cast off their first faith," 1 Tim. v. 11, 12. The 
reason whereof is plain, because the observ- 
ance of vows freely made to God are strictly 
commanded by God himself in the following 
words, When thou shalt make a vow unto 
the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay 
it. That which is gone out of thy lips thou 
shalt keep and perform." Deut. xxiii. 21, 23. 

I shall add but one thing more, viz. That 
the single life of bishops and priests is a mat- 
ter of ecclesiastical government or discipline 
only: whence I infer, 1. That the church had 
always authority to make it a law, especially 
in regard of those that offer themselves freely 
to holy orders. How many private persons 
are there, that wall not take servants into their 
families, but upon condition, that they shall 
keep unmarried as long as they continue in 
their service? And shall not the church of 



148 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



Christ be allowed to make her conditions with 
those of her children who desire to enter into 
her service, by presenting themselves volun- 
tarily to holy orders ? 

I infer, 2. That as the church had authority 
to make such laws in the primitive times, so 
had she the same authority in after ages to 
continue or enforce it. For I see no reason 
why the church of Christ should lose any part 
of her legislative power by time or age. 
Whence, 

I infer, 3. That the proceedings of the first 
reformers were most unwarrantable, in assum- 
ing a power to license the violation of a supe- 
rior law, which had been recommended by 
the very example of the apostles, as I have 
proved from St. Jerom; had been consecrated 
by the practice of antiquity, and enjoined by 
the decrees of innumerable councils; and what 
was still more scandalous, to countenance the 
breach of the most sacred and solemn vows 
made to God himself Such was the con- 
science and religious piety of the first re- 
formers. 

<^And I saw : and behold a Lamb stood on 
mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty- 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



149 



four thousand having his name and the narae 
of his father written in their foreheads. And 
I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of 
many waters, and as the voice of great thun- 
der: and the voice which I heard, w^as as of 
harpers, harping on their harps. And they 
sung as it were a new canticle, before the 
throne, and before the four living creatures, 
and the ancients: and no man could say the 
canticle, but those hundred forty-four thou- 
sand, who were purchased from the earth. 
These are they who were not defiled with 
women : for they are virgins. These follow 
the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were 
purchased from among men, the first fruits to 
God, and to the Lamb : And in their mouth 
was found no lie, for they are without spot 
before the throne of God." Rev. xiv. 1, 2, 3, 
4,5. 



150 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

OF THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS. 

By the word Mass, we understand the sac- 
rifice of the body and blood of Christ, offered 
to God in an unbloody manner, by the hands 
of the priest ; or what amounts to the same, 
an external oblation made to God of the body 
and blood of Christ under the forms of bread 
and wine. Now it is manifest by the most 
ancient records of Christianity, by innumera- 
ble testimonies of the holy fathers ever since 
the time of the apostles ; by the ancient litur- 
gies of all nations, Latins, Greeks, Nestorians, 
Armenians, Ethiopians, Coptites, Goths, &c., 
and even by the confession of Protestants 
themselves, (for which you may see Dr. Field, 
B. 3 of the Church, ch. 19, p. 107,) that the 
Holy Eucharist has always been used in the 
church, not only as a sacrament, but also as a 
sacrifice instituted by Christ at his last supper. 
For proof whereof the ancient Greeks and 
Latin Fathers, St. Justin and St. Irenseus in 
the second age, St. Chrysostom and St. Augus- 
tine in the fourth, allege the words of God in 
the prophet Malachi as they read them : From 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



151 



the rising of the sun to the going down of it, 
my name is great among the Gentiles, and in 
every place is sacrificed and offered to my 
name a clean oblation." Mai. i. 11, 12. 

For a farther proof of it, these words of the 
psalmist, " Thou art a priest for ever according 
to the order of Melchisedeck," Psalm xc. 4, 
are urged by St. Cyprian in the third age ; 
St. Jerome, St. Epiphanius, St. Chrysostom, 
and St. Augustin in the fourth, and by St. 
Isidore, St. Cyril of Alexandria, and Theodoret 
in the fifth. For as they argue, priests of the 
order of Aaron sacrificed beasts ; but Melchise- 
deck's sacrifice w'as bread and wine," Gen. 
xiv. 18, a figure of the Holy Eucharist, by the 
daily offering whereof, and the fruits of his 
passion, Christ is a priest for ever. 

St. Cyprian calls the blessed eucharist, a 
true and full sacrifice," Epist. 63. St. Augus- 
tine, a ««true and sovereign sacrifice," L. 10, 
d'Cev. Dei, c. 20. Eusebius, '^an expiation 
for all the world," L. 1. Dem. Ev. c. 10. 
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, " a spiritual sacrifice, 
an unbloody worship, a propitiatory victim," 
Cal. Myst. 5. 

Nor is the very name of Mass an invention 
of later ages. For thus the holy sacrifice of 



152 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 

the altar was called, above fourteen hundred 
years ago. V^itness first, St. Ambrose, who 
writes thus : " I continued the office, I began 
to say Mass," &c., L. 2, Epist. 14. And 
2dly, Si;. Leo, whose words are remarkable : 
When the multitude, (says he,) is so great 
that the church cannot hold them all, let 
there be no difficulty made to offer the sacrifi.ce 
oftener than once. For some part of the 
people must of necessity be deprived of their 
devotions, if following the custom of saying 
Mass but once, none can offer up the sacrifice 
but they who come early in the morning." St. 
Leo, Epist, 11, (olim 81,) ad Deoscorum. 
" We always offer, (says St. Chrysostom,) the 
same Christ." Therefore the sacrifice is the 
same. Are there many Christs, because he 
is offered in many places ? No, Christ is every 
w^here the same. He is entire here, and entire 
there, and has but one body ; as therefore, his 
body is the same, though offered up in different 
places, so the sacrifice is the same. He is 
our high priest, w^ho offered that victim which 
cleanses us. W e now offer the same, which 
was offered then, and which cannot be con- 
sumed." Hom. 17, in Epist. ad Heb. 



CATHOLIC DOCTBINE. 



153 



CHAPTER XV. 

TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 

By transubstantiation, as it regards the 
sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, we mean 
nothing else, but a change of the bread and 
wine into the true and real body and blood 
of Christ, made by the words of consecration. 
Nothing is more evident than that it is the 
doctrine of the ancient fathers. I shall only 
quote a few out of many to avoid being 
tedious. First, St. Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, 
writes thus : " Since therefore, Christ himself 
does thus affirm and say of the bread, this is 
my body, who from henceforward dares be so 
bold as to doubt of it? And hence the same 
does assure and say, ^this is my blood,' who, 
I say, can doubt of it, and say it is not his 
blood ? In Cana of Galilee, he once with his 
^sole will turned water into wane, which much 
resembles blood, and does he not deserve to 
be believed, that he changed wine into 
blood." Catec. Myst. 2dly. St. Gregory Nys- 
sen writes thus : I do therefore now rightly 
believe, that the bread sanctified by the word 
14 



154 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



of God is changed into the body of God the 
word." And again, soon after, Here (says 
he,) likewise the bread, (as the apostle says,) 
is sanctified by the wovd of God and prayer. 
Not so, that by being eaten becomes the body 
of the word, but because it is suddenly 
changed into his body by this word, ' This is 
my body.' — And this effected by the virtue of 
benediction, by which the nature of those 
things, which appear, are transelemented into 
it." (In erat. Catech. C. 37, T. 3, Edit. 
Par.) 

3dly. St. Chrysostom sets forth this truth 
in the following manner, (Horn. 83, in Matt.) 
i« Let us always (says he) believe God, and 
not contradict him, though that which he says 
seems to contradict both our thoughts and our 

senses For his word cannot deceive us, 

but our senses may easily be deceived. He 
never errs, but we are often mistaken. Since 
therefore, he says, ' This is my body,' let us 
be fully persuaded of it." And in the same 
homily he writes thus : " The things w^e pro- 
pose are not done by human power. He that 
wrought these things at his last supper, is the 
author of what is done here. We hold but 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. lOO 

I the place of ministers ; but he that sanctifies 
' and changes them is Christ himself." 

I appeal here to the judgment and sincerity 
[ of any unbiassed reader, whether these three 
Greek fathers do not deliver the doctrine of 
transubstanfiation, as clearly and strongly as 
any Roman Catholic can now do. I omit a 
multitude of quotations of the same force, and 
will only add one from St. Ambrose, a Latin 
father, to show the unanimous agreement of 
antiquity in this doctrinal point. His words 
are remarkably plain. 4thly, <^ Perhaps, (says 
he,) you may tell me I see another thing — I 
must therefore prove that what you receive is 
not that, which nature framed, but that, which 
the benediction has consecrated ; and that the 
benediction has greater force than nature. 
Moses held a rod in his hand, he threw it 
down, and it was made a serpent. Again, he 
took hold of the serpent, and it returned into 
the nature of a rod. The rivers of Egypt ran 
with streams of pure water, when presently 
blood gashed forth out of the fountain-vein, 
there was no water in the rivers. And again, 
by the prayer of Moses the blood ceased, and 
the nature of waters returned." To these 



156 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



he adds other miracles ; as, that when Moses 
held up his rod the sea opened a passage for 
the Israelites ; that Jordan ran back ; that 
Moses brought water out of the rock by striking 
it; and that Elias made iron swim upon 
the water, contrary to its nature. Then he 
goes on thus : We see, therefore, that grace 
is stronger than nature. Now if a man's 
blessing could change the course of nature, 
what do we think of the divine consecration 
itself, in which the very words of our Saviour 
operate ? For the sacrament which you receive 
is made by the words of Christ. And if Elias' 
words w^ere able to draw fire from heaven, 
will not the w^ords of Christ be able to change 
the nature of the elements? He said and 
they were made, he commanded and they 
w^ere created," Psalm xlviii. 5. Is not then 
the word of Christ, which could give a being 
to that which had none, able. to change those 
things, which are, into what they w^ere not 
before ? For it is not less tp give new natures 
to things, than to change their natures." Lib. 
de initiatis. 

Thus the ancient fathers give testimony for 
the doctrine of transubstantiation, and are 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 157 



authentic witnesses that it was the public faith 
of the church in her purest times. Whence 
it is plain, that they taught no other doctrine, 
than what they had received by a constant 
tradition from the apostles. Protestants object, 
and say, If it be not true bread and wine, but 
the body and blood of Christ, which we receive 
in the sacrament, it follows that our senses are 
deceived ; and by consequence, the apostles 
could not be sure they saw Christ work any 
miracles, which takes away the great evidence 
of Christianity. 

This objection, so highly magnified by some 
of our adversaries, must either suppose, that 
we must never trust our eyes or any of our 
senses, unless we may always trust, when 
they give us jointly the best information they 
are capable of. The first of these suppositions 
is contrary both to reason and religion, nay 
even to experience, and to our senses them- 
selves. ' For all these correct the errors of 
sense, if I may be allowed that way of speak- 
ing. The sun appears to our eyes not bigger 
than a span, and the fixed stars a great deal 
less. But reason tells us they may be greater 
than the earth. A straight stick, if you put 
14* 



158 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, 



the end of it under water, will appear crooked, 
but take it out, and your eyes will discover 
their own mistake. The two disciples going 
to Emmaus, had Jesus in their company, they 
both heard him and saw him ; yet took him 
for another, because their eyes were held, 
that they should not know him," Luke xxiv. 
16 ; at length even by their senses they found 
they had been misinformed; for soon after, 
their eyes were opened, and they knew him," 
31. But because their sight had deceived 
them on this occasion, were they never to trust 
to it any more ? Were they not to believe 
that they had seen any miracles of Christ ? 
St. Mary Magdalen was deceived in the same 
manner ; <^ She saw Jesus, yet knew not that 
it was he, and supposed him to be the gar- 
dener," John XX. 14, 15. But was she not 
to believe her eyes when she fell at his feet ? 
Matt, xxviii. 9, when she told the disciples 
that she had seen the Lord?" John'xx. 18, 
when she saw him nailed to the cross. Matt, 
xxvii. 55, and laid in the tomb ? 61. The 
second supposition, to wit, that our senses 
must always be trusted, is equally false. For 
1st, The two disciples going to Emmaus had 



I 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 159 

the joint information of both their eyes and 
ears ; yet I hope they might be sure and faith- 
ful witnesies of Christ's miracles. Sdly, 
Joshua's eyes deceived him when he said to 
the angel, Art thou for us or for our adver- 
saries ?" Jos. V. 13. And all his senses might 
then have been under the same mistake. But 
was he not to trust his eyes, when he saw the 
sun stand still, the walls of Jericho tumble, 
the waters of Jordan rise up in heaps, and so 
many other miracles done both by Moses and 
himself? 

3dly, When St. Peter was rescued out of 
prison, he knew for certain that God had 
sent his angel, and had delivered him out of 
the hands of Herod," Acts xii. 11. Here then 
is a fact, in which he both believed and dis- 
believed the information of his senses. Had 
he believed them as to the person of his guide 
(whom he saw, heard, and felt, when he 
struck him on the side,) he must have judged 
him to be a man, not an angel. In this then 
he found his senses were mistaken. Yet he 
still believed his eyes, and had nothing but his 
eyes to trust to, that he saw two miracles 
wrought in his favour, viz. the falling off of 



160 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



his chains, and the iron gates opening of them- 
selves. 

I speak as to wise men ; judg« ye your- 
selves of what I say. The chalice of benedic- 
tion which we bless, is it not the communion 
of the blood of Christ ? And the bread which 
we break, is it not the partaking of the body 
of the Lord, 1 Cor. x. 15, 16. You cannot 
drink the chalice of the Lord and the chalice 
of devils, 20. It is objected, that St. Paul 
thrice calls it bread and wine after consecra- 
tion, 1 Cor. xi. 26, 27, 28. To which I 
answer, that nothing is more common even in 
familiar di'scourse, than to call a thing by the 
name of that, out of which it is made, or from 
which it is changed. Thus it was said to 
Adam, Gen. iii. 19, ««Dust thou art;" Be- 
cause though then a living man, he had been 
made of dust. In like manner, the serpent, 
that was made by substantial change from 
Aaron's rod, is still called a rod in scripture, 
because changed from it: They cast down 
every man his rod, and they became serpents ; 
but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods," 
Exod. vii. 12. Again, nothing is more familiar 
than to name things from the appearance 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



161 



which they have to our senses. The scripture 
itself says, Behold there stood a man over 
against him," Jos. v. 13. Yet in the same 
place we are told he w^as not really a man, 
but the captain of the Lord's host," that is, 
an angel. So St. Mark assures us, that the 
women entering into the sepulchre, saw a 
young man," xvi. 5. But he had only the 
name because he appeared so. For he was 
not really a young man, but an angel, Matt, 
xxviii. 5. In like manner therefore, the body 
of Christ in the sacrament is by a proper and 
familiar figure, called bread by St. Paul, be- 
cause it is changed from bread, has to our 
senses the likeness of bread, and nourishes 
the soul, as bread nourishes the body. If you 
ask what this consecrated bread is ? our 
Saviour tells you, John vi. 52, "The bread I 
will give, is my flesh." St. Paul tells you, 
1 Cor. X. 16, i^It is the communion of the 
body of Christ." And whilst they were at 
supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and 
broke, and gave to his disciples, and said, 
Take ye and eat ; this is my body. And taking 
the chalice, he gave thanks; and gave to them, 
saying, Drink ye all of this. For this is my 



162 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



blood of the new testament, which shall be 
shed for many for the remission of sins. Matt, 
xxvi. 26, 28. For as often as you shall eat 
this breadj and drink this chalice, you shall 
show the death of the Lord, until he come, 1 
Cor. xi. 26. And I saw, and behold, in the 
midst of the throne, and of the four living 
creatures, and in the midst of the ancients, a 
lamb standing as it were slain. We have an 
altar, whereof they have no power to eat who 
serve the tabernacle. Heb. x. 10. Many other 
scripture proofs might be added. 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, 



163 



CHAPTER XVI. 

COMMUNION IN ONE KIND. 

Whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink 
the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be 
guilty of the body and blood of the Lord,'^ 
1 Cor. xi. 27. Now if either eating or drink- 
ing unworthily suffices to render us guilty 
both of the body and blood of our Lord, it 
follows, by an undeniable consequence, that 
either eating or drinking worthily renders us 
partakers both of his body and blood : his 
body being ever living, the blood is never 
separate from his flesh and divinity. I know 
very well, that to avoid the unanswerable force 
of this argument, the Protestant translators of 
the Bible have made bold with this text, by 
changing or into and in the text itself; which 
entirely alters the sense of it. 

Bishop Montague writes: Where does 
the scripture," says he, command that the 
people should receive the sacrament of the 
Lord's supper in both kinds ? — The scripture 
teaches no such thing, the scripture does 
not command it." T. 1, Orig. p. 396. 



164 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



The Protestants of France are most certainly 
of Bishop Montague's opinion. For though 
they generally administer the sacrament in 
both kinds, oblige all that can to receive it in 
that manner, yet, in a synod at Poitiers, An. 
1560, they decreed, (chap. xiii. art. 7, of the 
Lord's supper,) that the bread of our Lord's 
supper ought to be administered to those who 
cannot drink wine : as many in France, by 
their natural constitution, can neither endure 
the smell nor taste of it. This, I think, is a 
good Protestant testimony, that receiving the 
communion in one kind is neither sacrilege, 
nor mangling the sacrament, nor violation of 
any divine precept. For, if it were, no neces- 
sity could excuse it ; and they w^ho could not 
receive both kinds, w^ould be obliged to receive 
neither the one nor the other. 

Now there are three undeniable facts, which 
prove that communion in one kind was prac- 
tised even by the primitive church. 1. In the 
communion of infants, w^ho were allowed to 
drink of the cup w^ithout receiving the con- 
secrated Host, St. Cypr. de Lapsis. 2. In 
domestic communion ; the faithful being per- 
mitted, by reason of persecutions, to carry 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, 



165 



with them consecrated Hosts which they could 
easily keep in their houses in order to receive 
the sacrament in private, when they durst not 
meet in public to celebrate the sacred mys- 
teries ; Tert, Lo 2, ad Uxorem, c. 5, St. Cypr. 
L. de Lapsis. And 3. One kind was also used 
in administering it to the sick, St. Denys of 
Alex, apud Eusch. 6, Hist. c. 44. 

From these undeniable instances of com- 
munions in one kind practised by the primi- 
tive church, I infer it was her judgment ; 1. 
That communion in one kind is not forbid by 
Christ, whose laws cannot be violated upon 
any pretence whatsoever. 2. That the sacra- 
ment is not mutilated by it : for then it would 
be sacrilege to receive it in one kind, which the 
primitive church would not have suffered. And 
3. That neither the testament of Christ is vio- 
lated, nor the faithful deprived of any part of 
our Saviour's legacy : both which are impieties, 
which the primitive church would have ab- 
horred : whence I conclude again, that receiv- 
ing in one or both kinds is a matter of disci- 
pline only, which therefore the church has full 
authority to regulate as she judges most fitting. 
Nay, considering that the instances I have pro- 
15 



166 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



duced of communions in one kind were prac- 
tised by the church in the very first and second 
age after the apostles, we may reasonably sup- 
pose, she followed in this the example of the 
apostles themselves. 

But did not Christ institute both kinds? 
And is it not then acting contrary to the insti- 
tution to receive the sacrament in one kind 
only ? I answer, 1. The primitive church did 
not think it to be contrary to Christ's institu- 
tion : and I see no reason why we should 
think ourselves wiser than the primitive 
church. 

I answer, 2. That there is a large difference 
between instituting both kinds, and obliging 
all to receive both kinds. God instituted 
marriage, but all are not bound to marry. 
Christ likewise instituted priesthood and 
episcopy ; but all are not bound to be priests 
or bishops. Therefore, unless there be a posi- 
tive precept produced, which obliges all with- 
out exception to receive the sacrament in both 
kinds, the institution alone cannot import any 
such general obligation. Now it is very 
strange, that if there were any such positive 
precept, the primitive church should either 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE.' 167 



know nothing of it, or act contrary to it if they 
knew it. Bat why then did Christ institute 
both kinds ? I answer, because the Eucharist 
is not only a sacrament, that is, a sign of in- 
visible grace instituted for the nourishment of 
our souls, but also a sacrifice, which is one of 
the most essential parts of religion: and for 
this reason Christ instituted the blessed Eu- 
charist under both kinds, that by the mystical 
separation of the body and blood upon the 
altar, signified by the separate forms of con- 
secration, their real separation on the cross 
might be more perfectly represented, and so 
be both a standing lively memorial of his 
death he once suffered, and a perpetual obla- 
tion of infinite value for us. 

I add that there are several circumstances 
relating to the institution, which never were 
thought to be obligatory in after times ; I shall 
only mention two. 1st. The apostles received 
the sacrament sitting, as is expressed by three 
of the evangelists. Whereas those of the 
Church of England, as well as Catholics, 
received it always kneeling, unless hindered 
by sickness. And 2dly. Christ consecrated 
and gave the blessed sacrament to his apostles 



168 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



in " supper time, or after supper," Matt. xxvi. 
26. As they were eating," Mark xiv. 18. 
<i As they did eat," Luke xxii. 19, 20. «^ He 
took bread, &c. likewise also the chalice after 
supper, saying," &c. Nay, we do not find 
in scripture, that the blessed sacrament was 
ever consecrated or given at any other time, 
and it is still called the Lord's supper. Yet, 
because Christ never enjoined this practice by 
any positive precept, the church has made a 
law against it ; and if anyone should presume 
either to consecrate or give the blessed sacra- 
ment in supper time or after supper, in oppo- 
sition to this decree of the church, he would 
most certainly become guilty of schism, though 
he had an undeniable example in scripture 
to colour his disobedience. Nay, an example 
set him by all the apostles and Christ himself ; 
and that without any scriptural evidence for 
the contrary practice. 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



169 



CHAPTER XVIL 

PURGATORY. 

By the doctrine of purgatory, we mean a 
middle state of souls ; that is, of the souls of 
such persons, as those who have neither lived 
so innocently as to pass straight to heaven 
from this life, nor yet so ill as to be doomed 
to everlasting flames. 

First, It is said. Matt. xii. 32, that who- 
soever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it 
shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world 
nor in the world to come." Upon which text 
St. Augustin discourses thus : It would not 
be truly said of some sins, that they shall nei- 
ther be forgiven in this world, nor in the 
world to come, unless there were other sins, 
which, though not forgiven in this life, may 
yet be forgiven in the next," L. 21, de Civ. 
Dei, c. 24. Now no sort of sins enters into 
heaven, and there is no forgiveness in hell ; 
therefore there must be a third state, where 
some sins may be forgiven. That is a place 
of temporal punishment after this life. 

2dly, It is said, Rom. ii. 6, " God will ren- 
15* 



170 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



der to every man according to his deeds." 
And Apoc. xxi. 27, ^« Nothing that defiles 
shall enter into heaven." Whence it follows, 
that as there is a middle state of men in this 
world, who are neither entirely innocent, nor 
yet in a state of damnation, there must also be 
for a time a middle state of suffering in the 
next life. It is St. Augustin's argument, in 
Euch. c. 109, 110. And the text of scripture 
now mentioned prove it sufficiently. For let 
us suppose three sorts of persons together. 
First. A child newly baptized, or a just man 
who has brought forth worthy fruits of repent- 
ance for all his sins ; secondly, a man guilty 
of any of these crimes of which St. Paul says, 
that they who do such things shall not inherit 
the kingdom of God," Gal. v. 19, 20, 21. 
Thirdly, A person, v;ho either has not fully 
satisfied the divine justice for all his past sins, 
or committed some small offences, whereof 
he has not yet repented : now if these three 
sorts of persons die suddenly, for example in 
their sleep, the first are happy, Apoc. xiv. 13. 

The second are eternally miserable and 
doomed to hell. But if he will render to every 
man according to his works, what becomes of 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 171 



the third sort, who are neither in a state of 
damnation, nor entirely innocent? Where 
must they be expiated ? In heaven nothing 
defiled enters there. Out of hell there is no 
redemption. It is then as certain, that there 
is a middle state of suffering after death, as it 
is that even just men are too often deficient in 
their duty, and that God after this life will 
render to every man according to his deeds ; 
that is, it is as certain as that the gospel is 
true. 

The prophet told David upon his repent- 
ance, that his sin was pardoned, 2 Kings xii. 
13. But he let him know at the same time, 
that he was still to undergo many afflictions 
for it, as that his child should die," v. 13, 
and that the sword should never depart from 
his house," v. 10, &c. 

If we consult antiquity, we shall find it has 
always been the. practice of the Catholic 
church to pray for the relief of the souls of 
the faithful departed. ''The church (says 
Mr. Thorndike) has always assisted them with 
the prayers of the living." Just Weights, c. 
16, p. 107. " And the practice of the churchy 
(says he,) in interceding for the dead at the 



172 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



celebration of the Eucharist, is so general and 
so ancient, that it cannot be thought to have 
come in by imposture, but that the same asper- 
sion will seem to take hold of the common 
Christianity;" ib. p. 106. Indeed this is so 
manifest a truth, that a man must reject the 
strongest evidence to deny it ; as will appear 
from the few following quotations, which, for 
brevity sake, I have chosen out of many. 

In the end of the second century, Tertullian 
says of a faithful widow^, She both prays for 
the soul of her husband, and begs a refresh- 
ment for him in the mean time, and keeps his 
anniversaries," &c. L. de monogam, c. 10. 

One part of Arius's heresy in the fourth 
century, according to St. Epiphanius, w^as, 

That the prayers and alms of the living did 
the dead no good ;" Her. 75, sect. 3, T. 1, 
p. 908. Against whom he whites, that the 
church has this tradition from Christ, that 
prayers are profitable for the dead, sect. 8, p. 
912. And that we mention the saints and other 
faithful departed in a quite different manner." 
" The saints, that w^e may give a singular 
honour to Christ, and others that we may 
obtain mercy for them ;" ibid. 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



173 



St. Chrysostom writes thus : The apostles 
(says he) did not in vain command these 
things, that in the venerable and dreadful 
mysteries the dead should be remembered : 
for they knew they would derive a considera- 
ble advantage from it;" Hom. 3, Epist. ad 
Philip. . And again ; The dead (says he) 
may be helped by prayers, and alms, and 
offerings ; because they, were not instituted in 
vain and concludes, Let us therefore help 
them. For we have before us the expiatory 
sacrifice of the world. It may happen, that 
we may obtain a total pardon for them by 
prayers, by oblations, by the saints, who are 
named with them." Horn. 41, in Epist.. ad 
Cor. 

St. Cyril of Jerusalem writes thus : Lastly, 
We pray for all that die amongst us : thinking 
it to be the greatest help that can be to their 
souls to have the holy and dreadful sacrifice 
of the altar offered in supplication for them." 
Cat. Mystag. 5, p. 291. 

St. Augustin said Mass for the soul of his 
mother, as he says in his confessions. But, 
(Serm. 17, sect. 2,) he WTites thus : By the 
prayers of the holy church, (says he,) and the 



174 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



wholesome sacrifice and alms, it is not to be 
doubted, but the dead are assisted. So that 
God deals more mercifully with them, than 
their sins deserved : because it is the practice 
of the whole church to pray and offer sacrifice 
for them." The second Cabilon council 
decreed : — It further seemeth good to us, that 
in all the solemnities of masses, our Lord be 
prayed to in the due place for the souls of the 
dead, &c. therefore the holy church keeps 
anciently this custom, &c. ; c. 79. 

The first council of Nice decreed thus : — 
When a bishop dies, let notice be given of his 
death to all the churches and monasteries in 
the parish, that prayers may be made for him ; 
cap. 65, Arab. A. D. 325. 

The prayers of the church are heard of God 
in favour of some of the dead, who being 
regenerated in Christ, have not lived so ill in 
this life as to make themselves unworthy of this 
mercy after their death ; nor likewise so well 
as not to stand in need of this mercy ; Aug. 
civit. Lib. 21, cap. 24. According to the 
tradition which the fathers have left us, and 
which the whole church observes, when any 
one dead in the communion of the body and 



CATHOLIC DOCTHINE. 



175 



blood of Christ, he is prayed for in that place 
of the sacrifice, where the dead are recom- 
mended, and mention is made that the sacri- 
fice is oflfered for them; Aug. serm. 32; in 
verbis apostili, cap. 2. 

And again ; with that transitory fire whereof 
the apostle said, he shall be saved, yet so as 
by fire, not capital, but little sins are purged ; 
Serm. 41, de Sanctis. 

Also, " he shall be safe so as by fire, and 
because it is said he shall be safe that fire is 
condemned, yet that fire shall be more griev- 
ous than whatever a man can suflTer in this 
life : purge me, Lord, in this life, and make 
me such an one as shall not need that mend- 
ing fire." In Ps. 37. 

And again : some of the faithful are saved 
sooner or later by this fire, that purifies them 
according as they have loved the things of the 
world : Augustine de Fide. Spe. Charit. cap. 
69. 

If a man's work burn, he shall suflTer loss : 
but he himself shall be saved, yet so by fire ; 
1 Cor. iii. 15. Because Christ also died once 
for our sins, the just for the unjust, that he 
might offer us to God, being put to death, 



176 



CATHOLIC DOCTRmE. 



indeed, in flesh, but brought to life by the 
spirit. In which also he came and preached 
to those spirits who were in prison : who ia 
time past had been incredulous, when they 
waited for the patience of God in the days of 
Noe, when the ark w^as a building ; 1 Pet. iii. 
19. See here a proof of a third, or middle state 
of souls : for these spirits in prison, to whom 
Christ went to preach, after his death, w^ere 
not in heaven, nor yet in hell of the damned ; 
because heaven is no prison : and Christ did 
not go to preach to the damned. For David 
did not ascend into heaven. Acts ii. 34. Thou 
also by the blood of thy testament hast sent 
forth thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein is 
no water, Zach. ix. 11 ; Mach. xii. 43, says 
that Judas Machabeus sent twelve thousand 
drachms of silver to Jerusalem, for sacrifice to 
be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking 
well and religiously concerning the resurrec- 
tion. It is therefore a holy and wholesome 
thought to pray for the dead, that they be 
loosed from sins. The book of Machabees is 
canonical, and the third council of Carthage, 
(held in the year 397,) has asserted it, (can. 
47,) in the canon. St. Paul says, " What shall 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



177 



they do who are baptized for the dead, if the 
dead rise not again, why are they then bap- 
tized for them," 1 Cor. xv. 29. " Ascending 
on high, he led captivity captive, he gave 
gifts to men; that he ascended, what is it? 
but because he also descended first into the 
lower parts of the earth." Ephes. iv. 8, 9. 



16 



178 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

PENANCE, 

Christ says, (John xx. 22, 23,) Receive 
ye the Holy Ghost ; whosesoever sins you shall 
forgive, they are forgiven them ; and whoseso- 
ever sins ye retain, they are retained." And 
St. Matt, xviii. 18, " Verily I say unto you, 
whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be 
bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall 
loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.'' 

This authority was certainly given to them 
and to their successors till the end of the 
world ; no less than the commission to preach," 
and baptize, &c. which, though addressed to 
the apostles, was certainly designed to con- 
tinue wuth their successors, the pastors of the 
church for ever, according to that of Christ, 
Matt, xxviii. 20. Lo, I am with you always 
even till the end of the world." 

St. Chrysostom speaks thus on the subject : 
" Christ has given that power to priests, which 
would not be given either to angels or to arch- 
angels. Earthly princes have also power to 
bind only the bodies^ but the bond of the 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



179 



priests toucheth the very soul itself, and 
reacheth to heaven. What power, I beseech 
you, can be greater than this Chrys. lib. 3, 
de Sacerd. 

But as God has made men his instruments 
in raising the dead to life; so we believe that 
he has been pleased to appoint that his minis- 
ters should in virtue of his commission, as his 
instruments, and by his power, absolve repent- 
ing sinners, and this is evident from the 
texts above quoted ; it must be false zeal, un- 
der pretext of maintaining the honour of God, 
to contradict this commission which he has 
so evidently given to his church. What then 
is required on the part of the sinner in order 
to obtain forgiveness of his sins in the sacra- 
ment of penance ? There are three things, 
contrition, confession, and satisfaction. By 
contrition we mean, a hearty sorrow for hav- 
ing offended so good a God, with a firm pur- 
pose of amendment. By confession we mean, 
a full and sincere accusation made to .God's 
minister, of all mortal sins, which, after a dili- 
gent examination of conscience., a person can 
call to his remembrance. By satisfaction, we 
mean, a faithful performance of the penance 



180 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



enjoined by the priest. First, Confession is a 
precept of God. Numb. v. 6, 7 : — " When 
a man or woman shall commit any sin that 
men commit, to do a trespass against the Lord, 
and that person be guilty, then they shall con- 
fess their sin which they have done," &c. 
Secondly, The example of the people that 
heard the preaching of St. John the Baptist, 
who w^re baptized by him, " confessing their 
sins," St. Matt. iii. 6. Thirdly, The pre- 
scription of St. James, v. 16 : Confess your 
sins one to another that is to the priests, or 
elders of the church, w^hom the apostle had 
ordered to be called for; v. 14. Fourthly, 
The practice of the first Christians, Acts xix. 
18. ^'Many that believed came, and con- 
fessed and declared their deeds." Again, 
<i If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just 
to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from 
all unrighteousness 1 John i. 9. David 
confessed his sins, and was saved ; Cain denied 
his sins, and was damned. 

Now certain it is, that had the first Chris- 
tians been in thej habit of not going to con- 
fession, their followers never would have taken 
such a yoke upon their shoulders; inasmuch 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 181 

as all men revolt at every thing irksome and 
painful in religion, as the practice of confes- 
sion most certainly would be, had not Christ 
and his apostles taught it as a means of 
receiving pardon of the sins committed after 
baptism." 

The whole world could not have gone mad 
at once, so as to take upon them such a task, 
unless it came from the first ages of the church. 
It must be admitted that all Christians, before 
the pretended reformation, held confession as 
a doctrine coming down from Christ ; no mat- 
ter whether Catholics or heretics : so that 
the reformers were the first to throw off the 
yoke of Christ. 

In the second age, St. Clement: «'But if, 
perhaps, sins, or infidelity, or any other evils 
have crept hiddenly into any one's heart, let 
him that hath a care of his soul not blush to 
confess these things to him that rules him, that 
he may be cured of him by the word of God, 
that is, the words of absolution instituted by 
Christ, and good council. And again, St. 
Peter taught us to break the evil thoughts 
coming to our hearts upon Christ, and to 
16* 

I 



182 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



manifest them to the priests of our Lord." 
Epist. i. 2. 

In the second age, Tertullian : God, fore- 
seeing the prison, to wit, of sin,, the gate of 
pardon being past, and the bolt of washing 
being shut, hath yet permitted something to 
lie open, and hath placed in the porch the 
second penance, which may open to them that 
knock." L. depsenitent. And again, let him 
blot out what hath been committed by doing 
penance; by weeping, by fasting, &c." Homil. 
6, in Exod. The same age — Tertullian repre- 
hends those w^ho, for human bashfulness, ne- 
glected to confess their sins. Lib. de paenitent. 

In the third age, Origen : there is, by 
penance, the remission of sins, when he wash- 
eth his bed with tears, and blusheth not to 
show his sins to the priest of the Lord." Homil. 
2, in Levit. And again, Peter and Paul, and 
all such as have been placed in the church 
after the apostles, are also physicians, to \vhom 
the discipline of curing w^ounds hath been 
committed, &c., because God wills not the 
death of sinners, but their repentance." Homil. 
in Psal. xxxvii. 

St. Cyprian, in the same age : Let every 

* 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



183 



one of you, I beseech you, brethren, confess 
his sins, whilst he is yet in this life, whilst 
confession may be admitted, whilst every 
one's satisfaction may be admitted, whilst 
every one's satisfaction and remission made 
by the priest is grateful with our LoW." Tract 
de Lapsis. 

In the fourth age, St. Ambrose : " confess 
freely to the priest the hidden secrets of thy 
soul, and show them as thou wouldst thy hid- 
den wounds to thy physician." Orat. in Muli- 
erem peccatricem. Again, waiting to the No- 
vatian heretics, Why do you baptize, (saith 
he,) if sins cannot be remitted by a man, for 
in baptism there is the remission of all sins, 
nor is it material whether priests challenge to 
themselves this power by penance or by bap- 
tism." Ambrose, Lib. de p^nit. c. 7. 

In the same age, St. Hierome : as there, 
in the old law, the priest makes the leprous 
person clean, or unclean, so here the bishop 
or priest bindeth or looseth." In c. 16, Matt. 

In the same age, St. Athanasius: ^'If thy 
bonds are not yet loosed, commend thyself to 
the disciples of Jesus, for there are those that 
can absolve thee, by the power they received 



184 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



from our Saviour, when he said, whatsoever 
you shall bind, &c." Sermo. in ella verba; In- 
venietis pullum. 

In the fifth age, St. Augustine : " our Lord, 
because he is pious and merciful, will have 
us confesii^ur sins in this world, that we may 
not be confounded for them in the next." 
Homil. 12. And again, "if murder be com- 
piitted by a Catechumen, it is washed away 
by baptism ; if by one baptized, it needs 
penance and reconciliation." Lib. 2, de adul- 
terinis conjug. c. 16. The Calibon council 
has defined, that their confession being made, 
penance be enjoined to penitents by priests; 
Can. 8. The council of Florence defined 
penance to be a sacrament, and that the effect 
of it is absolution from sin ; Decret. Super 
Union, Jacobin et Armen. The third coun- 
cil of Florence decreed that the time of pen- 
ance should be appointed by the arbitrament 
of bishops, according to the difference of their 
sins. Can. 31, A. D. 397. 

The third part of this sacrament is satisfac- 
tion or penitential w^orks. '^And the men 
of Ninive proclaimed a fast, and put on sack- 
cloth, from the greatest to the least, and the 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE."" 



185 



king cast away his robe from him, and was 
clothed in sackcloth, and sat in ashes, and 
God saw their works, that they were turned 
from their evil ways ; and God had mercy with 
regard to the evil which he had said, that he 
would do them, and he did it not;" Jonas 
iii. 4. From this example of the Ninivites 
our Saviour takes occasion to inculcate the 
necessity of doing penance in the strongest 
terms : The men of Ninive," says he, shall 
rise in judgment with this generation, and 
shall condemn it ; because they did penance 
at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a 
greater than Jonas is here;" Matt. xii. 41. Job 
says, have spoken unwisely — therefore I re- 
prehend myself, and do penance in dust and 
ashes ;" Job. xlii. 3, 6. f Gird yourselves 
with hair-cloth, lament and howl, for the fierce 
anger of the Lord is not turned away from us 
— wash thy heart from wickedness, Jeru- 
salem ! that thou mayst be saved ;" Jer. iv, 
8, 14. "Gird thyself with sackcloth, 
daughter of my people ! and sprinkle thee 
with ashes : make thee mourning as for an 
only son, a bitter lamentation ;" Jer. vi. 26. 



186 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



^<Be converted and do penance for all your 
iniquities, and iniquity shall not be your ruin ;" 
Ezek. viii. 30. Now therefore, saith the 
Lord, be converted to me with all your heart, 
in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning 
Joel ii. 12. In all which texts, we see that 
the doing penitential works is joined with the 
other conditions of true repentance, as neces- 
sary to avert the anger of God, and find mercy 
wdth him. When all the people went out to 
St. John the Baptist, to be baptized by him, 
he said, Ye offspring of vipers, who hath 
shown you to flee from the wrath to come 
And immediately teaching them the means to 
avoid the wrath, he adds, Bring forth, there- 
fore, fruits worthy of penance Luke iii. 7, 
St. Paul also declares, that the great subject 
of his preaching to the Jews was, ^^that they 
should do penance, and turn to God, doing 
works worthy of penance Acts xxvi. 20. ^ 
Christ himself condemns the people of Coro- 
zain and Bethsaida, for not doing penance, 
sitting in sackcloth and ashes," after the 
works he had done among them, as the people 
of Tyre and Sidon would have done, if they 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



187 



had received the like favours ; Luke x. 13. 
^« I set my face to the Lord my God, to pray 
and make supplication, with fasting and sack- 
cloth and ashes." Dan. ix. 3. 



188 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

HOLY WATER. 

Holy ^vater5 is water sanctified by the 
vrord of God and prayer, 1 Tim. iv. 5, in 
order to certain spiritual effects. Tlie chief 
arCj 1. To make us mindful of our baptism, 
by which we entered into Christ's mystical 
body, and therefore we are taught to sprinkle 
ourselves with it as often as we enter the 
material temple (which is a type thereof) to 
celebrate his praise. 2. To fortify against the 
illusions of evil spirits, against whom it hath 
great force, as witnessed Theodoret, Eccl. 
Hist. L. 5, c. 31. 

Holy water is used ever since the apostles' 
time ; Pope Alexander I. who was but the 
seventh Pope from St. Peter, makes mention 
of it in one of his epistles. ^« He shall dip 
hyssop in the waters, and sprinkle therewith 
all the tent, and all the furniture, and men that 
are defiled ; and in this manner he shall purify 
the unclean; Numb. xix. 18,19. The waters 
spoken of in this text, were the waters of puri- 
fication in the old law, which, by the appoint- 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



189 



ment of Almighty God, both persons and 
things were, in certain cases, to be sprinkled. 

Thou shalt sprinkle me, Lord, with 
hyssop, and I shall be cleansed ; thou shalt 
wash me, and I shall be made whiter than 
snow Psalm 1. 9. Even the very term Holy 
Water is found in the Bible ; Numb. v. 17. 
The church of Christ is the best authority we 
can have both in faith and practice ; she will 
teach what rites we shall receive, and what 
not. I showed you that in the old law as- 
persions were used in certain cases. I will 
now show you some authorities from the Holy 
Fathers. St. Gregory in his epistle wrote thus 
to St. Melitus, Let the idols be destroyed, 
let holy water be made, let it be sprinkled in 
said temples. Let altars be made, and re- 
liques be placed in them L. 11, Epist. 76. 
This is an unanswerable proof, that the Eng- 
lish received the use of holy water together 
wath their Christianity. 

But it may yet be traced much higher : for 
in the reign of Constantine, the first Christian 
emperor, when the Jews by magical enchant- 
ments hindered the building of a church, we 
have in St. Epiphanius this blessing of water 
17 



190 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



used effectually by the holy count Joseph ; 
who, after he had made the sign of the cross 
upon it, prayed thus : In the name of Jesus 
of Nazareth, may this water have power 
against the magical charms and enchantments 
they have used ; and may it restore to the fire 
its natural force, that the house of God may 
be finished." 

We have the like instance, in Theodoret, 
of water blessed w4th the sign of the cross, 
and no less effectually used, by St. Marcellus, 
bishop of Apamea, against the devil hindering 
a temple of the heathens from taking fire. For 
the blessed water was no sooner thrown upon 
it, but the charm was dissolved. L. 5, Hist. 
Eccl. c. 21. 

St. Jerom also relates, that one Italicus, a 
Christian officer of Gaza, who by his place 
was to entertain the people with the games 
called circenses, but had his horses enchanted 
by his adversary a heathen, had some water 
given him by St. Hilarian, with which he 
sprinkled his horses, his chariot, and the bar- 
riers, from whence they used to run, and that 
the charm of witchcraft ceased upon the 
sprinkling this water. So that the people 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 191 



cried out, Marnas is overcome by Christ, and 
many heathens were converted upon it. Hier. 
in vita Hil. p. 323, Paris edition. 

As to the other blessing, first, St. Paul tells 
us, <^that every creature is sanctified by the 
word of God and prayer." And it is the 
practice of all Christian churches to bless the 
meat upon the table. An old Greek ritual, 
under the name of apostolic constitutions, has 
a blessing of water and oil, that they may 

cure diseases, cast out devils, and preserve 
from all dangers L. 8, c. 29. And does 
not the Church of England bless or consecrate 
her churches before any public service is per- 
formed in them ? We have an instance of this 
in the consecration of the church of Greenwich. 
Does she not likewise bless the font in her 
administration of public baptism ? For I find 
this form of blessing used by the minister, 
" Almighty and everlasting God, regard, we 
beseech thee, the supplication of thy congre- 
gation: sanctify this water to the mystical 
washing away of sin," &c. 

But the ceremony of the king's coronation 
is the most remarkable instance of the Church 
of England's judgment and approbation of 



192 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



the blessings of creatures. The history of 
the coronation of King James the Second, 
tells us, p. 91, in the margin, that the oil 
with which he was anointed, was solemnly 
consecrated in the morning of the coronation 
by the Dean of Westminster, assisted by the 
prebendaries. And Baker, in the Life of 
King Charles the Second, specifies the very 
form of blessing the royal ornaments, thus : 
God, the King of kings, and Lord of 
lords, by whom kings do reign and lawgivers 
make good laws, vouchsafe, we beseech thee, 
in thy favour to bless this royal ornament — 
vouchsafe to bless and sanctify this sword, 
which is hallowed for the defence of thy holy 
church — God, the « crown of the faithful,' 
bless and sanctify this crown, so this thy ser- 
vant that weareth it be filled with thy manifold 
graces — bless and sanctify this ring." Print- 
ed, London, An. 1696, pp. 742, 744. There 
is also salt mixed (after being first blessed) 
with the water. You are the salt of the earth. 
Matt. V. 13. Salt seasons and preserves: it 
is also an emblem of wisdom. Salt has been 
used for the benefit of God's people. And 
the men of the city said to Eliseus : Behold, 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



193 



the situation of this city is very good, as thou 
my lord seest ; but the waters are very bad, 
and the ground barren. And he said, bring 
me a new vessel, and put salt into it. And 
when they had brought it, he went out to the 
spring of the waters, and cast the salt into it, 
and said : thus saith the Lord, I have healed 
these waters ; and there shall be no more in 
them death or barrenness. And the waters 
were healed unto this day, according to the 
word of Eliseus, which he spoke." iv. 
ii. 19, 20, 21, 22. The very name holy 
water is found in the holy scripture. Num. v. 
17, " And he shall take holy water," &c. It 
is certain that the use of holy water is from 
the age of the apostles themselves, and that 
no beginning can be assigned to its use sub- 
sequent to their time. The Catholic is the best 
authority we can look for here below, be- 
cause it is divine. 



17* 



194 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



CHAPTER XX. 

CONFIRMATION. 

The scripture for this sacrament. First, 2 
Cor. i. 21, 22 : And he that confirmeth us with 
you in Christ, and hath anointed us is God, 
who also hath sealed us, (^with the spiritual 
character,) and given the pledge of the Spirit 
in our hearts. Secondly, Acts viii. 14, 15, 
16 : Where Philip, the deacon, had converted 
the city of Samaria to the faith, the apostles 
who were at Jerusalem sent two bishops, St. 
Peter and St. John, to confirm them ; who, 
when they w^ere come (saith the text) prayed 
for them, that they might receive the Holy 
Ghost ; for he was not yet come upon any of 
them, but they were only baptized in the name 
of our Lord Jesus ; then did they impose 
their hands upon them, and they received the 
Holy Ghost. Thirdly, Acts xix. 5, 6 : Where 
we read that St. Paul baptized and confirmed 
about twelve of St. John's disciples : Hear- 
ing these things, they were baptized in the 
name of our Lord Jesus; and when St. Paul 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



195 



had imposed hands on them, the Holy Ghost 
came upon them." The principal and proper 
effect of it is the interior unction of the Holy- 
Ghost, which makes us perfect Christians, 
and able to profess our faith before persecuting 
tyrants. The council of Laodicea, Can. 48, 
says, that those that have been baptized, must, 
after baptism, receive the most holy chrism, 
and be made partakers of the heavenly king- 
dom. St. Jerom, in his epistles against the 
Luciferians : Dost thou not know also (saith 
he) that this is the custom of the churches, 
that hands should be imposed on such as have 
been baptized, and so the Holy Ghost be in- 
voked ? Dost thou require to know where it 
is written ? In the Acts of the Apostles, and 
though there were no authority of scripture 
for it, yet the consent of the whole world in 
this behalf would be equal to a precept ; for 
many other things also which are observed in 
the churches by tradition, do claim unto them- 
selves the authority of a written law." You 
see, he owns it to be commanded in the scrip- 
ture ; and though it were not so, yet to be 
equal to a precept, and have the authority of 
a written law, because it is apostolical tradi- 



196 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



tion that such as have' been baptized must 
also be confirmed. «^ Is there any man," saith 
he, of so perverse a heart as to^deny these 
children on whom we impose hands, to have 
received the Holy Ghost, because they speak 
not with tongues ?" St. Augustin, Trac. 6. in 
Epist. on Joan. And he further observes: 
" The sacrament of chrism, like visible seals, 
is sacred and holy, even as baptism itself." 
Aug. Lib. 2. cont. lit. Pet. c. 104. From all 
these authorities we evidently see that prayer 
and the laying on their hands were the out- 
ward means used by the apostles, by which 
the Holy Ghost was communicated to their 
souls; prayer, as a preparation, and laying 
on their hands, as the immediate means ap- 
pointed for that great gift of God ^ 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



197 



CHAPTER XXI. 

BAPTISM. 

By baptism we are bom again, or created 
anew in Christ Jesus, and therefore before it 
we are not capable of receiving any other. 
Christ expressed the form of baptism, and 
gave us a command to baptize. St. Matt, 
xxviii. 29 : Go, therefore, (saith he) teach ye 
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost. St, John iii. 5 : Unless a man be 
born again, of water and the Holy Spirit, he 
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The 
matter of baptism is natural, only ; for artifi- 
cial water will not suffice. It makes us the 
children of God, and remits both original and 
actual sin, if he that is baptized be guilty 
of it. It infuseth justifying grace into the 
soul, with habits of faith, hope and charity, 
and all supernatural gifts and virtues, as is 
proved out of Gal. iii. 27 : As many of you 
as are baptized in Christ, have put on Christ. 
Secondly, out of 1 Cor. vi. 10, 11, where. 



198 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, 



speaking of fornicators, idolaters, thieves, 
adulterers and liars : These things (saith St. 
Paul) ye were, but ye are washed, but ye are 
sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of 
God. Thirdly, out of Tit. v. 6, 7 : He hath 
saved us by the laver of regeneration and re- 
novation of the Holy Ghost, whom he hath 
abundantly poured out upon us, by Jesus 
Christ our Saviour, that being justified by his 
grace, we may be heirs according to the hope 
of life everlasting. Ananias said to Paul, 
Acts xxii. 16 : «^ Arise, and be baptized, and 
wash away thy sins." St. Peter said thus to 
the Jews : " Be baptized every one of you, 
in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission 
of sins." Acts ii. 38. Let no man trust him- 
self to live without this holy sacrament, which 
Christ has urgently commanded. 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



199 



CHAPTER XXII. 

MATRIMONY. 

Matrimony was first ordained in Paradise 
by Almighty God, when he gave Eve as wife 
to Adam, who presently said, Therefore a 
man shall leave his father and mother, and 
shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be 
two in one flesh." Gen. ii. 22, 24. Christ 
declared the indissolubility of marriage, say- 
ing, f Therefore now they are not two, but 
one flesh; that, therefore, which God hath 
joined together, let no man separate." Matt, 
xix. 6. Marriage is a sacrament, as we prove 
out of Eph. V. 31, 32: They shall be two in 
one flesh ; this is a great sacrament. But I 
speak in Christ, and in the church. 



200 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. , 



CHAPTER XXIIL 

EXTREME UNCTION.- 

St. James v. 13, 14, 15 : Is any man sick 
among you, let him bring in the priests of the 
church, and let them pray over him, anoint- 
ing him with oil in the name of our Lord, and 
the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, 
and our Lord will raise him up, and if he be in 
sin his sins shall be forgiven him. It com- 
forts the soul in her last agony against despair 
and all the temptations of our enemy, and 
helps us to die well. The Reformation gen- 
tlemen, to avoid the trouble of attending every 
sick person, did not retain that holy practice, 
although St. James taught it. 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



201 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

WOESHIP AND INVOCATION OF ANGELS AND 
SAINTS. 

And when Josue was in the field of the 
city of Jericho, he lifted up his eyes, and saw 
a man standing over against him, holding a 
drawn sword ; and he went to him, and said : 
Art thou one of ours, or of our adversaries ? 
And he answered : No, but I am prince of 
the host of the Lord : and now I am come. 
Josue fell on his face to the ground. And 
worshipping, said : What saith my lord to his 
servant ? Loose, saith he, thy shoes from thy 
feet : for the place whereon thou standest is 
holy. And Josue did as was commanded 
him. Josue v. 13, 14, 15, 16. This worship- 
ping was not with divine honour, but with a 
religious veneration of an inferior kind, suita- 
ble to the dignity of his person. This kind 
of worship is given, even to those who are 
eminent for sanctity, in this world ; for Abdias, 
governor of the house of Achab, king of Israel, 
meeting with poor Elias the prophet, ^^When 
he knew him, he fell on his face, and said, 
18 



202 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



Art thou my lord Elias ?" 1 Kings xviii. 7 ; 
and ''the children of the prophets seeing 
Eliseus, said the spirit of Elias hath rested 
upon Eliseus, and coming to meet him, they 
worshipped him falling to the ground," 2 
Kings ii. 15. ''And after I had heard and 
seen, I fell down to adore before the feet of 
the angel, who showed me these things." 
Rev. xxii. 8. 

Christ says, (Luke xv. 7, 10,) " There shall 
be joy in heaven before the angels of God, 
upon one sinner doing penance." The angels 
know what happens here on earth whenever 
it is the will of God that they should know, 
and the laws by which they are informed, are 
quite different from the m.anner by which we 
know the things that come to pass. " And an 
angel of God called to Agar, from heaven, 
saying, "What art thou doing. Agar? Fear 
not, for God hath heard the voice of the boy." 
Gen. xxi. 7: "And an angel of the Lord 
from heaven called to him, saying, Abraham, 
Abraham, lay not thy hand upon the boy," 
&c. Gen. xxii. 11, 12: "The angel of the 
Lord answered and said, Lord of hosts, 
how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jeru- 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



203 



salem, and the cities of Juda, with which thou 
hast been angry ? This is now the seventieth 
year." Zach. i. 12: When thou didst pray 
with tears, and didst bury the dead by night, 
I offered thy prayer to the Lord," (saith the 
angel Raphael to Tobias, Tob. xii. 12.) 
Abraham could tell the rich man, that "his 
five brothers had Moses and the prophets 
Luke xvi. 29. Did not Moses and the pro- 
phets live many years after Abraham was 
dead? We read in the second book of 
Chron. xxi. 12, that Ehas had sent a letter 
to Joram, telling him of many particular 
wicked actions, which he had committed after 
Elias was translated : Elias, therefore, being 
departed, knew what passed in the world, and 
showed his great care to assist his brethren in 
this life, his own departure happened the 
eighteenth year of king Josaphat's reign, (2 
Kings ii. 11,) and Josaphat reigned five and 
twenty years, as is manifest ; 2 Chron. xx. 
31. So that seven years of Josaphat's reign 
elapsed after the departure of Elias ; then this 
Joram's son reigned after Josaphat, 2 Chron. 
xxi. 1, and it was to him that this letter came 
from Elias. 



204 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



We have several examples taken from 
scripture, how saints living even in this world, 
could know and tell many things which were 
secretly done by others ; for Samuel said thus 
to Saul, ^« I will tell thee all that is in thy 
heart," 1 Samuel ix. 19; and Eliseus told 
Giezi what he had committed privately, 2 
Kings V. 26. The same Eliseus knew also 
what was said in the king of Syria's private 
chamber, 2 Kings vi. 12 ; and St. Peter knew 
the deceitful heart of Ananias, and said unto 
him, Why hast thou conceived this thing in 
thy heart ?" Acts v. 4. By which you see 
that some saints even in this world, and other 
saints after their departure from it, knew their 
brethren's actions. 

The scripture says, (Hos. xii. 4,) that 
" Jacob wept, and made supplication to the 
angel;" Gen. xlviii. 15, &C.5 that he first 
called upon God, and afterwards upon his 
good angel, in order to help and bless the 
children of Joseph; and he declares, that this 
angel delivered him from several evils. An- 
other example from Zacharias, which affirms, 
that the angel made supplication to the Lord, 
beseeching him to have mercy on Jerusalem, 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



205 



and on the cities of Juda ; and the prophet 
says, in that chapter, v. 13, that the Lord 
answered the angel, with good and corafort- 
able words." Daniel tells you what assist- 
ance Michael the angel had given to himself, 
^^None," saith he, ''is my helper in these 
things, but Michael your prince," Dan. x. 21, 
and also says thus : '' At that time shall 
Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth 
for the children of thy people ;" Dan. xii. 1. 
St. John says, " I saw the angels standing in 
the presence of God, and to them were given 
seven trumpets, and another angel came and 
stood before the altar, having a golden censer ; 
and there was given to him much incense, 
that he should offer the prayers of all the 
saints, upon the golden altar, which is before 
the throne of God, and the smoke of the in- 
cense from the hand of the angel is the prayers 
of the saints, ascended up before God." Rev. 
viii. 2, &c. 

The scripture says, (Exod. xxxii. 12, 13,) 
that "Moses spoke to the Lord, saying: Let 
thy anger cease, and be appeased upon the 
wickedness of thy people. Remember, Abra- 
ham, Isaac, and Israel thy servants." And the 
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206 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, 



next verse says, The Lord was appeased 
from doing the evil which he had spoken 
against his people." Would not Solomon's 
kingdom be given to his own servants, if it 
had not been for the sake of David, then 
dead? 1 Kings xi. 11, 12. Was it not also 
on account of David's merit, then dead, Abias 
obtained that, his son Asa reigned in Jeru- 
salem ? As you may see in the same book, 
XV. 4. And would not the city of Jerusalem 
have been destroyed by the Assyrians, were 
it not on account of David's good works ; 2 
Kings xix. 32, &c. ; xx. 6^ Then said the 
Lord to me, if Moses and Samuel shall stand 
before me, my soul is not towards this people," 
Jer. XV. 1. It evidently appears by this ex- 
pression, that Moses and Samuel, (then dead,) 
were accustomed, after their death, to intercede 
for these people, and that their intercession 
was most powerful and acceptable before 
God ; you have such another text, in Ezek, 
xiv. 17, &c. And Elephaz, seeing holy Job's 
great affliction, said thus to him : <^ Call now, 
if there be any that will answer thee, and turn 
to some of the saints ;" Job. v. 1. Does not 
this mode of expression clearly show that Job 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



207 



used to ask the assistance of saints that were 
dead. 

Judas Machabeus, (2 Mach. xv. 12, 13, 
&c.) tells us thus, that he saw (in an admira- 
ble vision) Onias the high priest, and Jeremiah 
the prophet, (lor>g after their death,) earnestly 
interceding with God for the people of Israel, 
^^And when he had opened the book, the 
four living creatures, and the four and twenty- 
ancients fell down before the Lamb, having 
every one of them harps, and golden vials full 
of odours, which are the prayers of the saints," 
Rev. V. 8. «f All that the Lord hath spoken, 
we will do," Exod. xix. 8. ^« Moses told the 
words of the people to the Lord," which 
words were well known to God before Moses 
had mentioned them ; yet by mentioning 
them he made (by his joint mediation) this 
cheerful offer of the people more pleasing to 
God ; and because he did this to their great 
advantage, Moses tells them again : ^« I stood 
between the Lord and you at that time ;" 
Deut. V. 5. You may see another example 
of this kind of mediation, in the book of Job, 
where God spoke thus to Job's three friends, 



208 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



««My wrath is kindled against thee, take 
therefore unto you seven oxen and seven 
rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer for 
yourselves a holocaust, and my servant Job 
shall pray for you, his face I will accept," 
Job xlii. 7, &c. Brethren, (says St. Paul,) 
pray for us," 1 Thes. v. 25. He bids also 
the Hebrews <'pray for him," Heb. xiii. 18, 
and says thus to the Romans, ^« I beseech 
you, brethren, through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and by the charity of the Holy Ghost, that you 
assist me in your prayers for me to God." 
Rom. XV. 30. 

^« I do not deny, (says Bishop Montague,) 
but the saints are mediators, as they call them, 
of prayer and intercession. They interpose 
whh God by their supplications, and mediate 
by prayer," in Antid. p. 20. And again, in 
his treatise of Invocation, p. 118, he writes 
thus: I own Christ is not wronged in his 
mediation : it is no impiety to say, (as Papists 
do,) Holy Mary, pray for us. The saints 
shall be as the angels of God. Matt. xxii. 30. 
Let those w^ho pretend that the saints and 
angels cannot know^ what passes upon earth, 
tell us how the dead will hear the last trumpet 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



209 



when the Archangel shall sound it ? for the 
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise 
again. The power of God is above anything 
we can conceive, and he can confer upon his 
saints attributes of which w^e have no con- 
ception. 



210 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

OF IMAGES. 

The Scripture says, (Numb. xxi. 8,) The 
Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery ser- 
pent, and set it up, and it shall come to pass, 
that every one that is bitten, when he looketh 
upon it shall live. And Moses made a ser- 
pent of brass, and set it, and it eame to pass 
that if a serpent had bitten any, when he be- 
held the serpent of brass he recovered." The 
serpent was a type and figure of Christ exalted 
upon the cross. John iii. 14. The council 
of Trent declares thus. Due honour and vene- 
ration is to be given to the images of Christ, 
of the mother of God, and of the saints. The 
Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, (Exod. xxv. 
18, &c.,) «'Thou shalt make two cherubims 
of gold of beaten work, thou shalt make them 
in the two ends of the mercy seat, and make 
one cherubim on the one end, and the other 
cherubim on the other end, and the cherubims 
shall stretch forth their wings on high, cover- 
ing the mercy seat with their wangs, and their 
faces shall look one to another, towwds the 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



211 



mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims 
be." And hence St. Paul says, thus : " There 
was a tabernacle, and over it were the cheru- 
bims of glory, shadowing the mercy seat." 
Heb. ix. 2, &c. And when this tabernacle 
was placed in the temple of God, the temple 
itself had cherubims graven on the walls, as is 
evident from the second book of Chronicles, 
iii. 19, &c., w^here it is said, that, ^^In the 
holy house he made two cherubims of image 
work, and overlaid them with gold, and their 
faces were towards the house ; he made the 
veil of blue and purple crimson, and wrought 
in cherubims. And all the people kneeled 
immediately before these pictures, and adored 
towards them, when they prayed in the tem- 
ple whereby you may perceive how im- 
piously they went to work in the beginning 
of the reformation, by throwing all images out 
of the churches ; whereas you see now, by 
clear scripture, that God himself gave a com- 
mand for making and placing them in his holy 
temple. 

But you will say that the use of images is 
contrary to this commandment, Thou shalt 
not make to thee a graven thing, nor any 



212 'catholic doctkine. 



similitude," Exod. xx. 4, to which I answeij 
that the text speaks of idols, which are wor- 
shipped as gods; and you may see from the 
very next verse, which speaks thus of the 
things that are here prohibited : Thou shalt 
not bow^ down thyself to them, nor serve 
them." We pay no such worship to images, 
which we hold to be wholly incapable of being 
served by us in the manner the idols were 
served by the Gentiles in former times. In- 
deed, if God had forbidden, by this text, the 
use of images, he would not immediately after 
in the same book, xxv. 18, &c., commanded 
Moses to make the images of the cherubims 
to be placed in the ark, before whose presence 
idols could not stand, as we see by Dagon, 
(1 Sam. V. 3, &c.,) so often cast down before 
it: neither would Solomon place images round 
about the walls of God's temple, (2 Chron. 
iii. 7,) so that it manifestly appears how falsely 
some preachers apply what is spoken in Scrip- 
ture against idols, to the images of angels, 
Christ, and his saints : they also falsely trans- 
lated this text, and this purposely, that they 
might make the ignorant people believe that 
we are idolaters. The truth of this is also 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINEc 213 

evident, for the Septuagint, which they pre- 
tend to follow, hath the word Eidolon, that 
is, idols, and the Hebrew hath the word ^OB 
which word only signifies a graven thing or 
idol. So you may perceive that the whole 
import of the commandment is directed against 
idols, and not against images or pictures. 
Bear in mind, that in the ages of true faith 
there were many images of gold and silver. 
The reformers wished to get their godly hands 
upon them, but they feared the people ; they 
therefore sent out preachers, or rather lectur- 
ers, to cry down the use of images, pretending 
they were against the command of God. The 
churches therefore were plundered, and the 
plunderers paid the preachers well out of the 
gold and silver taken from the churches. 
This is one of the greatest reasons they had 
at first for preaching against images. They 
got the gold and silver, and their families are 
rich to this day, and little do the people of 
our times reflect upon the motives their fore- 
fathers had for preaching against images. Let 
them now reflect at last. The second Nicene 
council defined, that the sacred images of 
Christ and his saints are to be had and kept 

19 



214 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



in cburcheSj and that salutation or inferior 
honour may be given them, but not Latria, 
or sovereign honour which belongs to God 
only. Act 7, An. Dom. 431. 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



215 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

OF THE RELICS OF SAINTS, AND PILGRIM- 
AGES TO HOLY PLACES. 

The Scripture says, (2 Kings xiii. 21,) 
And it came to pass as they were burying 
a man — and they cast him into the sepulchre 
of Eliseus, and when the man was let down, 
and touched the bones of Eliseus, he revived 
and stood upon his feet." You see also, 
c. ii. 13, 14, &c., how miraculously God 
honoured the mantle of Elias, upon which 
Eliseus passed over the river Jordan : what 
w^onder is it, then, that the bones and garments 
of other saints should be likewise dignified 
with such miracles? The devout woman 
said, ^'If I but touch his garment I shall be 
whole ; and Jesus turning about, and seeing 
her, said, thy faith hath made thee whole." 
Mat. ix. 21, 22. Behold how the cure was 
WTOught by the exterior touch, accompanied 
wuth interior faith. " The whole multitude 
sought to touch him, for virtue came out of 
him, and cured all," Luke vi. 19. God 
wrought special miracles by the hand of Paul, 



216 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



SO that from his body were brought unto the 
sick handkerchiefs and aprons, and the 
diseases departed from them, and the wicked 
spirits went out of them," Acts xix. 11, 12. 
We read that the primitive Christians had a 
great veneration even for St. Peter's shadow, 
and God confirmed their devotion by many 
miracles, as is evident from the Acts of the 
Apostles, where it is said, «f that they brought 
forth the sick into the streets, and laid them 
in beds and couches, that at least the shadow 
of Peter passing by might overshadow some 
of them. There came also a multitude out 
of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, 
bringing sick folks, and them which were 
vexed with unclean spirits, and they were 
healed every one," Acts v. 15, 16. 

The scripture says, (Gen. xlvi. 1,) That 
Israel took journey with all that he had, 
and came to Beersheba, and offered sac- 
rifices to the God of his father Isaac." Pro- 
testants pretend that God is not more accessible 
in one place, than he is in another, as their 
catechism affirms, page 39. But do they 
imagine that people of sense or learning will 
prefer this imaginary notion to that which the 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 217 

word of God most clearly declares ? or do 
they think that their ministers are more holy 
or wise in this respect than the patriarch 
Jacob, who the scripture tells you, practised 
the contrary of what they make their people 
believe ? You might have some manner of 
pretence to give credit to them, if their asser- 
tion had been confirmed by some heavenly 
vision. Jacob's devotion w^as at the aforesaid 
well, as may be seen by the second verse of 
this chapter ; nay, we read (Gen. xxvi. 23, 
&c.) that his father Isaac, w^as also honoured 
w^ith a heavenly vision, while performing his 
devotions at the same well, of which you may 
read more, Gen. xxi. * And if God be no 
more accessible in one place than he is in 
another, why doth the scripture say : Ye 
shall not do so unto the Lord, but unto the 
place which the Lord your God shall choose 
out of your tribes, to put his name there, even 
unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither 
shall ye come, thither shall ye bring your 
burnt offerings and sacrifices." Deut. xi. 
4, &c. And hence it is said of God, that 
thy eyes may be open upon this house, night 
and day upon this place, whereof thou hast 
19* 



218 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



said, that thou wouldst put thy name to 
hearken to the prayers which thy servant 
prayeth towards this place, hearken therefore 
unto the supplication of thy servant, and of 
thy people made towards this place," 2 Chron. 
vi. 120, &c. And in the ensuing verses, 
there are many blessings solicited for those 
who would pray in that holy place, wherefore 
people undertook to go thither in pilgrimage, 
though they were obliged by the law to go 
there thrice every year, as the word of God 
declares, saying, three times in the year all 
thy males shall appear before the Lord," Ex. 
xxiii. 17. And because Daniel (in his cap- 
tivity) could not go to perform his devotion 
there, the wdndows of his chamber being 
towards Jerusalem, «'he kneeled upon his 
knees thrice a day, and prayed, and gave 
thanks to his God, as he did aforetime," 
Dan. vi. 10. You may take notice also of 
w^hat the angel told Moses, Acts vii. 23, and 
to Joshua, V. 15, for he told them, "that the 
places whereon they stood were holy ground 
but if the transitory presence of those angels 
so sanctified the ground upon which they 
stood for a short time, how can you deny that 



CATHOLic DOCTRINE. 219 



the permanent abode of the bodies of the 
saints doth not likewise sanctify the place 
wherein they are preserved, and in which they 
shed their blood, by suffering martyrdom for 
Jesus Christ? Do you not see by scripture, 
(2 Kings V. 14,) that Naaman the Assyrian, 
was cleansed from his leprosy by washing 
himself seven times in the river Jordan, and 
that after his cure, he besought Eliseus, (v. 
17,) to permit him to carry with him two 
mules burden of earth from the Holy Land, 
that hereafter he might offer sacrifice to God 
upon that earth in his own country, because 
he could not (by reason of the great journey) 
come to Jerusalem to perform his devotion ; 
you see also by scripture that there were cer- 
tain Greeks, who came to Jerusalem to worship 
at the feast." (John xii. 20,) yet those peo- 
ple were not obliged to the observance of the 
Jewish laws, and notwithstanding this, their 
devotion prompted them to undergo the hard- 
ships of that pilgrimage ; and it happened 
very fortunately to the eunuch that came 
from Ethiopia, to perform his devotion there, 
for at his returning home, the angel of the 
Lord came to Philip, and desired him to meet 



220 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



this eunuch, which he did, and hereby the 
eunuch believed in Christ, and was imme- 
diately baptized by him, Acts viii. 26, &c. 
You see likewise in scripture, that memorable 
passage of St. John, which says : " There is 
in Jerusalem, by the sheep-market, a pool 
having five porches, and in these were a great 
multitude of persons, blind, lame, withered, 
expecting the stirring of the water, and an 
angel of the Lord descended at a certain time 
into the pond, and the water was stirred, and 
he that had gone down first into the pond, 
after the stirring of the w'ater, was made 
whole of w^hat infirmity soever." John v. 2, 
&c. Here let it be well understood that the 
faithful are left at perfect liberty to visit such 
places or not, just as they felt inclined. There 
is no doubt but many pious persons after 
having read the Holy Scriptures wmld be 
desirous of seeing the holy places where the 
Lord of Glory stood, and above all, the place 
'where the author of life laid down his own 
for our salvation. What would be your feel- 
ings were you to visit those holy places ? Your 
heart would melt with divine love when you 
would ask mercy of him who died for you on 
that spot. 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



221 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

GOOD WORKS. ' 

Christ said to Mary Magdalene, (Mark 
xiv. 6,) " She hath wrought a good work 
on me." Christ said to the young raan, 
"If you will be perfect, go and sell all you 
have and give it to the poor," (Matt. xix. 21.) 
St. Paul says again, (Colos. i. 24,) ^'1 who 
now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill 
up that which is wanting of the afflictions of 
Christ, in my flesh, for his body's sake, which 
is the church." And if you would take the 
pains to read our books, you might clearly see 
by them, that we believe, that the passion of 
Christ, in itself is of a sufficient value, to 
satisfy for all the sins of the whole world, yea 
of millions of worlds, and also for all the 
pains that are, or can be due to these sins ; yet 
we say, and this according to scripture, that 
Christ, by his unsearchable wisdom, knew it 
was fit to order it so, that the full fruit of his 
passion should not be applied to any but to 
those who could perform several things, which 



222 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



he requires at their hands for this effect ; not 
that there is need of this to supply any want 
or value which might be in his passion ; but 
that there is need to do these things on our 
parts, by virtue of the covenant and condition 
upon which the benefit of Christ's passion is 
granted unto us. Although Christ died for 
us, yet we must repent and be baptized and 
fulfil all justice. 

Daniel (iv. 27) said to Nebuchadnezzar, 
" king, let my counsel be acceptable unto 
thee, and redeem thy sins with alms, and thy 
iniquity with mercy to the poor." Tobias 
says, That alms deliver from death, and 
purge all sins," Tob. xii. 9. And "That 
alms deliver from death, and suffereth not to 
go into darkness," Tob. iv. 10. And hence 
Ecclesiasticus says, That as water quench- 
eth burning fire, so alms expiate sin." Eccles. 
iii. 33. Solomon says, " That by mercy 
and truth, sin shall be forgiven, and by the 
fear of the Lord, men depart from evil." 
Prov. xvi. 6. And Christ says thus, But 
rather give alms of all things such as you have, 
and behold all things are clean unto you." 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 223 



Luke xi. 41. Therefore he exhorts us to the 
secret performance of our fasts, ahus-deeds, 
and prayers, and he tells us, that Otherwise 
we will lose our reward; but if we do them in 
secret, our father, which seeth in secret, will 
reward us openly;" lay up for yourselves,'' 
saith he, treasure in heaven, w^here neither 
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves 
do not breakthrough nor steal." Matt. vi. 2, 
4, 5, 6, 16, &c. «^ Whosoever shall give to 
one of these little ones a cup of cold water 
only in the name of a disciple, Amen, I say 
unto you, he shall not lose his reward." Matt. 
X. 42. For the Son of man shall come in 
the glory of his Father, with his angels, and 
then he shall reward every one according to 
his works." Matt. xvi. 27. " Then shall the 
king say unto them on his right hand, come 
ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom 
prepared for you. For I was hungry, and ye 
gave me meat, I was thirsty, and ye gave me 
drink, I was a stranger, and you took me in, 
naked, and ye clothed me. I was sick, and 
ye visited me ; I was in prison, and ye came 
unto me." Matt. xxv. 34, &c. ««But when 
thou makest a feast, call the poor, the weakj 



224 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



the lame and blind, and thou shalt be recom- 
pensed at the resurrection of the just." Luke 
xiv. 13, 14. For this reason, St. Paul calls 
alms-deeds, the seed of glory, saying thus of 
it : " But this I say, he who soweth sparingly, 
shall reap also sparingly, and he who soweth 
bountifully, shall reap also bountifully, every 
man according as he purposeth in his heart, 
so let him not give grudgingly, or of neces- 
sity, for God loveth a cheerful giver, and God 
is able to make all grace abound towards you, 
that you always having all sufficiency in all 
things may abound to every good work." 2 
Cor. ix. 6, &c. He encourages likew^ise the 
Philippians to give alms, and to do other good 
works, that thereby they might merit ; for he 
says thus to them, " In Thessalonica ye sent 
once and again unto my necessity ; not be- 
cause I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that 
may abound to your account. I have received 
of Epaphroditus, the things which were sent 
from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a acri- 
fice acceptable, well pleasing to God, but my 
God shall supply all your need, according to 
his riches in glory by Jesus Christ." Phil, 
vi. 16. And commanded the Bishop Timothy, 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



225 



To charge them that are rich in this 
world, that they be not high-minded, nor 
trust in uncertain riches, but that they do 
good, that they be rich in good works, ready 
to distribute, willing to communicate, laying 
up in store for themselves, a good foundation 
against the time to come, that they may lay 
hold on eternal life," 1 Tim. vi. 17, &c. David 
says thus, <^ The Lord rewarded me accord- 
ing to my righteousness, according to the 
cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed 
me." Psalm xviii. 20. And hence it is said, 
that " God is justifying the righteous, to give 
him according to his righteousness." 1 Kings 
viii. 32. i« Be you strong, therefore, and let 
not your hands be weak, for your work shall 
be rewarded. 2 Cor. xv. 7. «^ They who have 
done good things shall go forth in the resur- 
rection of life. John v. 29. <i Be glad and 
rejoice, for great is your reward in heaven." 
Matt. v. 12. And when Peter said thus unto 
Christ, Behold, we have forsaken all and 
followed thee, what shall we have therefore ?" 
Matt. xix. 27. Christ made them a promise 
because they followed him, That when he 
would sit upon the throne of his glory, that 
20 



226 CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 



they also would sit upon twelve thrones, 
judging the twelve tribes of Israel," v. 28. 
And hence St. Paul says, that "Everyman 
shall receive his own reward, according to 
his own labour." 1 Cor. iii. 8. And that 

our light affliction which is but for a mo- 
ment, worketh for us an eternal weight of 
glory." 2 Cor. iv. 17. '«For whatsoever a 
man soweth, that shall he also reap ; for he 
that soweth in his flesh, shall of the flesh reap 
corruption ; but he that soweth in the spirit, 
shall of the spirit reap life everlasting ; and 
let us not be w^eary in well doing, for in due 
season, we shall reap if we faint not; as we 
have therefore opportunity let us do good 
unto all men, knowing, that every one what 
good soever he shall do, that shall he receive 
of the Lord." Gal. vi. 7, &c. Which to con- 
firm, he brings in the example of Moses, 

who refused to be called the son of Pha- 
raoh's daughter, choosing rather to be afflicted 
with the people of God, esteeming the re- 
proach of Christ greater riches than the trea- 
sures of Egypt ; for he had respect unto the 
recompence of reward." Heb. xi. 24, &c. 
And he also says thus of himself, I have 



CATHOLIC DOCTRINE. 227 



fought a good fight, I have finished my course, 
I have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid 
up for me a crown of righteousness, which 
the Lord, the just judge, shall give at that 
day, and not to me only, but also unto all 
them that love his appearing." 2 Tim. iv. 7. 

Now to him that worketh is the rew^ard, not 
reckoned of grace, but of debt." Rom. iv. 4. 
Christ therefore, will say in the day of judg- 
ment, these w^ords of St. John : " My reward 
is with me, to give every one according as 
his works shall be." Rev. xxii. 12. Do you 
see that by works a man is justified, and not 
by faith only. St. James ii. 24. 



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